The Argentine tennis player Francisco Cerúndolo, champion last Sunday in Bastad, Sweden, ended his streak of eight consecutive victories by falling this Saturday in one of the semifinals of the ATP 500 in Hamburg, Germany, once morest the Italian Lorenzo Musetti by 6- 3 and 7-6 (3).
Cerúndolo, ranked 30th in the ATP world ranking, seemed physically diminished and lost in one hour and 55 minutes to Musetti (62nd), a rival to whom he had also lost in the 2020 Cordenons Italian Challenger.
The match took flight in the final stretch when, with match point in favor, the Italian served from below to try to surprise but Cerúndolo reacted very well, crossing the return so that Musetti later ran into the net. The daring of the European did nothing but motivate the Argentine, who ended up staying with that set (5-5) and ended up falling in the tie break.
The 20-year-old Italian will go in search of the title this Sunday -from 10 in the morning, Argentine time- once morest the promising Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (6th), just 19 years old and best seeded in the contest, who for his part eliminated Slovakian Alex Molcan (48th) 7-6 (2) and 6-1.
As for Cerúndolo, 23 years old, he said goodbye to the German tournament with good feelings since following having won the title in Bastad, the first of his career, with five consecutive successes, he maintained his level and successively beat the German Daniel Altmaier ( 56th) and Russians Andrey Rublev (8th) and Aslan Karatsev (37th).
The eldest of the Cerúndolo brothers looked somewhat tired and for that reason announced that he will not play the Croatian ATP in Umag from next Monday in which he was registered.
The one who mightn’t either, but in Finland, was Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, 20 years old. The number 110 in the ranking was eliminated in the semifinals of the Tampere Challenger by the Frenchman Harold Mayot (395th) by 6-7 (3), 6-3 and 6-1.
The Argentine is going through a season marked by injuries and succumbed in an hour and 50 minutes of play in a match that seemed to be under control.
It is that the youngest of the Cerúndolo won the first set and in the second he dominated with the score tied 2-2 until the match was interrupted for an hour due to rain, and when they resumed his level dropped a lot and he was surpassed by the Frenchman, who will play the final once morest the Hungarian Zsombor Piros (165th).
