Francisco Cerúndolo (born 13 August 1998) is an Argentine professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 19 in singles by the ATP, achieved on 19 June 2023. He also has a career-high doubles ranking of No. 203 achieved in October 2022.
After turning professional in 2018, Cerúndolo made his debut on the ATP Tour at the 2019 Argentina Open, the event at which he later broke through on tour in 2021 after reaching his first ATP singles final and becoming the first qualifier to contend for the title in 20 years. In 2022, Cerúndolo hit several more milestones: emerging into the top 100 in singles, reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal in 2022 Miami in his first Masters main draw, and winning his first ATP title at the 2022 Swedish Open, all of which sealed him a year-end top-30 ranking. At the Grand Slam level, Cerúndolo earned his first wins at the 2023 Australian Open and at the French Open, where he reached the third and fourth rounds, respectively.
Cerúndolo is the older brother of fellow tennis player Juan Manuel Cerúndolo. In 2021, with the Córdoba Open followed by the Argentina Open, the Cerúndolos became the first brothers to reach consecutive finals on the ATP Tour since Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev in 2017. In 2022, they also became the first brothers to be ranked inside the top 100 in singles since the Zverev brothers in 2019.
Career
2019–2020: ATP debut
Cerúndolo made his ATP main draw debut on home soil at the 2019 Argentina Open in Buenos Aires after receiving a wildcard for the singles main draw, losing to Guido Pella in three sets.[1]
Cerúndolo played another ATP main draw a year later at the 2020 Argentina Open in Buenos Aires after receiving a wildcard for the singles main draw again, losing to Laslo Djere in the first round.
2021: First ATP final, Grand Slam and Olympics debut
Cerúndolo reached his first ATP tour final at the 2021 Argentina Open as a qualifier but was defeated by world No. 9 Diego Schwartzman. He was the first qualifier to reach the final in Buenos Aires since José Acasuso in 2001. At the time, Acasuso was coached by Cerúndolo's father, Alejandro Cerúndolo.[3]
Cerúndolo recorded his first ATP Tour victories on a hard court at the Masters 1000 event in Miami, defeating Tallon Griekspoor and seeded players Reilly Opelka and Gaël Monfils en route to the fourth round. He beat Frances Tiafoe (who defeated his brother Juan Manuel in the third round) in the fourth round to advance to the quarterfinals. He advanced to the semifinals after Jannik Sinner retired during their match due to foot blisters.[4] Ranked World No. 103 at the time, he became the lowest-ranked semifinalist in the history of the Miami Open, and also became the first male player since Jerzy Janowicz in 2012 to reach the semifinals on their Masters 1000 level debut. He lost to 6th seed Casper Ruud in the semifinals in straight sets.[5] Following this result, his ranking rose 52 places to a career-high of World No. 51.
In Båstad, Cerúndolo recorded his first win against a player inside the Top-10 after beating top seed and defending champion Casper Ruud in 3 sets. He proceeded to reach the final after beating Aslan Karatsev and Pablo Carreño Busta. He defeated Sebastián Báez in the final to win his first ATP title.[6][7] As a result, he reached the top 30 on 18 July 2022 and the top 25 a week later.[8][9]
Cerúndolo won his two first matches at a Grand Slam at the Australian Open after beating Guido Pella and Corentin Moutet to reach the third round on his debut at this Major.
He played again in the Davis Cup, this time recording his first win in the tournament against Otto Virtanen.[13]
In Miami he reached the fourth round again at this tournament, recording his first top-10 win of the season against fifth seed and world No. 6 Félix Auger-Aliassime and getting his revenge for his third round loss at the 2023 BNP Paribas Open two weeks earlier.[15][16] He reached back-to-back quarterfinals at this tournament defeating Lorenzo Sonego.
He picked up the second Major win of his career at the French Open, where he defeated Jaume Munar in four sets. Next he defeated lucky loser Yannick Hanfmann. He reached the round of 16 for the first time at a Major defeating ninth seed Taylor Fritz, his fourth top-10 win of the season. He lost to sixth seed Holger Rune in five sets with a fifth set tiebreaker.[19] As a result, he reached the top 20 in the rankings on 12 June 2023.
On his return to clay at Båstad, he started his title defense beating Luca Van Assche in the second round, Federico Coria in the quarterfinals, but lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Andrey Rublev.[21]
Seeeded fourth, he reached the semifinals at the ATP 500 2024 Rio Open for the second time at this tournament, but lost to fifth seed and eventual champion Sebastian Baez.[27]
His younger brother Juan Manuel Cerúndolo (born 2001) is also a tennis player.[14] Juan Manuel was also in his first final and won his first title at the 2021 Córdoba Open one week before his brother's final.[32]
The Cerúndolos became the first brothers to reach consecutive finals on the ATP Tour since 2017, when Alexander Zverev won the title in Rome and Mischa Zverev reached the final in Geneva.[33] In Córdoba, Francisco contested the first ATP Tour event in which his brother was also competing, making them the first Argentine brothers in 40 years to appear in the same tournament.[34]
His younger sister María Constanza Cerúndolo (born 2000) is a field hockey player, who plays at Belgrano Athletic Club and the Argentina national team, his father Alejandro "Toto" Cerúndolo was a tennis player and coach, and his mother María Luz Rodríguez is a sport therapist and was also a tennis player.[35]