Francisco Cerundolo is slowly and steadily moving up the ranks. He may not be as known as some of his compatriots like Juan Martin del Potro and Diego Schwartzman, but the 23-year-old Argentine is having a dream start to the 2022 season. Apart from an ATP Challenger Tour title in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, he has had credible finishes in other ATP tournaments.

Francisco had a credible quarterfinal finish at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires. He lost to his fellow countryman, Diego Schwartzman, in the last-eight clash. Further, he reached the semifinals of the Rio Open. However, it was Schwartzman again who halted his run at the Rio Open. Earlier today, he had another impressive result, as he knocked out an in-form, Gael Monfils, in the third round at Miami Open 2022.

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Francisco Cerundolo to face Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round of Miami Open

The Argentinian will take on the local hero, Frances Tiafoe, in the next round. Earlier in the day, Tiafoe defeated Francisco’s younger brother, Juan Manuel Cerundolo. During a post-match interview after his third-round win over Monfils, Francisco opened up on facing Tiafoe in the pre-quarterfinals.

He said, “Frances is an amazing player, I watched him today against my brother. He played a really good match. I’m going to enjoy this victory tonight because this is huge for me and tomorrow I will start thinking about the match, watching a bit of Frances, how he plays, and focusing on my game mostly.”

Francisco Cerundolo was dominant right from the very start in his win over Gael Monfils. He took the early initiative, breaking Monfils’ serve in the third game of the opening set. Further, he didn’t let Monfils settle in the match, as he again broke the Frenchman’s serve in the seventh game of the first set. Subsequently, he held his serve to take the opening set 6-2.

The second set began with both the players holding their serves until 3-3. However, the Argentine won the next three games to notch one of the biggest wins of his career.

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It’ll be interesting to see if Francisco can avenge his brother’s defeat against Tiafoe.