Francisco Cerundolo admits expecting crowd support against Taylor Fritz at French Open following American’s altercation, hopes similar reception against Holger Rune
The 24-year-old secured his best Grand Slam result by advancing to the fourth round where he is set to clash against sixth-seed Holger Rune.
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Francisco Cerundolo (Image via ATP)
Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo downed ninth-seed Taylor Fritz 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 in the third round of the ongoing 2023 French Open on Saturday (June 3) on the Court Suzanne Lenglen in Paris in a match that lasted for two hours and 50 minutes. The 24-year-old secured his best Grand Slam result by advancing to the fourth round, where he is set to clash against sixth-seed Holger Rune.
Prior to 2023, Cerundolo couldn’t secure a main-draw win at a Grand Slam event. But this year, after reaching the third round at the Australian Open, he secured his best by making it to the fourth round at Roland Garros. After the win, Cerundolo talked about the crowd favoring him over Fritz due to the latter’s sushing them during his previous game.
“Yes, today was super fun, it was the first game I played on Lenglen. It was wild. I knew what Taylor had done in the previous game, so I figured the crowd would be on my side,” said Cerundolo at the post-match press conference.
Notably, during Frtiz’s previous game against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, crowed continuously booed the American for beating Frenchman. Fritz retaliated by sushing them, which invited even more jeering. He even resorted to social media to post an emoji to silence the netizens. However, when he was booed again before his match against Cerundolo, he made a peace sign instead of shushing and simply smiled.
Coming to Cerundolo, he then talked about his next match against Denmark’s Holger Rune. The Argentine remarked that while playing, Rune likes to involve the public; however, sometimes they support him, and sometimes they are against him. “I hope they will be by my side. It will probably be, I don’t know, 50/50,” Cerundolo added.
Francisco Cerundolo vs. Holger Rune head-to-head record
Francisco Cerundolo and Holger Rune will face each other for the second time. Previously, they locked horns at the Manerbio Challenger in 2019, where the result came in favor of the Argentine 7-6 (7-4), 6-0. So Cerundolo leads their head-to-head record 1-0.
Prior to beating Taylor Fritz, Cerundolo knocked out Yannick Hanfmann and Jaume Munar. At the same time, Rune overcame the likes of Genaro Alberto Olivieri, Gael Monfils (walkover), and Christopher Eubanks. The Argentine also climbed up three places to No. 20, his best so far in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.
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