Francisco Cerundolo defeats Alexander Shevchenko in Almaty | ATP Tour

Astana

Cerundolo sinks residence hope Shevchenko for Almaty SF spot

Argentine will face Diallo, who upset second seed Tabilo at ATP 250

October 18, 2024

Francisco Cerundolo served up some swift revenge on Friday on the Almaty Open.

The fourth-seeded Argentine downed residence favorite Alexander Shevchenko 6-2, 6-3 to achieve the semi-finals on the Kazakhstani ATP 250. Cerundolo, who fell to an opening-round defeat to Shevchenko in Shanghai simply 13 days in the past, transformed three of six break factors he earned to set a last-four assembly with Gabriel Diallo.

“I’m tremendous completely happy. I knew it was going to be a very powerful match,” mentioned Cerundolo in his on-court interview. “We performed final week in Shanghai and he beat me in a very shut match. I knew he was enjoying tremendous good, I advised him that on the web. I knew what I needed to do and I feel I did it rather well. I served properly, and I’m actually completely happy to get to a different semi-final, and my first on onerous courts this 12 months.”

Cerundolo gained 92 per cent (24/26) of factors behind his first serve, based on Infosys ATP Stats, en path to his 65-minute triumph in opposition to Shevchenko. The 26-year-old, who gained his third ATP Tour title in Umag in July, will now put together for simply his second tour-level semi-final on onerous courts following his breakout run on the 2022 Miami Open introduced by Itau.

His subsequent check in Kazakhstan is a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head assembly with Diallo, who earlier upset second seed Alejandro Tabilo 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The 23-year-old Canadian Diallo, who has risen 19 spots to No. 99 within the PIF ATP Dwell Rankings on account of his run in Almaty up to now, can be competing in his first ATP Tour quarter-final.

“I haven’t watched [Diallo] lots,” mentioned Cerundolo. “We warmed up immediately collectively, however I don’t assume I’ve seen a lot of his matches. I’m going to observe a bit little bit of him [on video] and find out how he performs. I feel it’s going to be a troublesome match. He’s big, he serves rather well, hits the ball rather well. Right here in these situations, he’s going to be tremendous powerful.”