Astana
Cerundolo sinks house hope Shevchenko for Almaty SF spot
Argentine will face Diallo, who upset second seed Tabilo at ATP 250
October 18, 2024
Andrey Udartsev/KTF.kz
Francisco Cerundolo defeats Alexander Shevchenko on Friday on the Almaty Open
By ATP Workers
Francisco Cerundolo served up some swift revenge on Friday on the Almaty Open.
The fourth-seeded Argentine downed house 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 pleased. 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 informed him that on the internet. I knew what I needed to do and I believe I did it rather well. I served properly, and I’m actually pleased to get to a different semi-final, and my first on laborious courts this 12 months.”
Cerundolo received 92 per cent (24/26) of factors behind his first serve, in accordance with Infosys ATP Stats, en path to his 65-minute triumph in opposition to Shevchenko. The 26-year-old, who received his third ATP Tour title in Umag in July, will now put together for simply his second tour-level semi-final on laborious courts following his breakout run on the 2022 Miami Open offered 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 because of his run in Almaty to date, will probably be competing in his first ATP Tour quarter-final.
“I haven’t watched [Diallo] quite a bit,” mentioned Cerundolo. “We warmed up at present collectively, however I don’t assume I’ve seen a lot of his matches. I’m going to look at somewhat little bit of him [on video] and learn the way he performs. I believe it’s going to be a troublesome match. He’s enormous, he serves rather well, hits the ball rather well. Right here in these situations, he’s going to be tremendous powerful.”
