Francisco Cerúndolo

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, which he achieved on 19 June 2023.

He also attained a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 203 in October 2022.

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.

Cerúndolo made his main draw debut in a Grand Slam at the 2021 French Open as a lucky loser, where he lost to Thiago Monteiro.

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.

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.

As a result, he reached the top 30 on 18 July 2022 and the top 25 a week later.

At the 2022 Hamburg European Open, he reached the quarterfinals defeating World No. 8 and second seed Andrey Rublev, his second Top-10 win.

He reached his second ATP 500 semifinal by beating Aslan Karatsev in three sets.

He represented Argentina for the first time in the Davis Cup finals, where he lost both matches to Jannik Sinner and Borna Ćorić respectively.

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.

In Córdoba, Argentina he defeated fellow Argentine Federico Delbonis to reach the quarterfinals but lost to eventual runner-up compatriot Federico Coria, however, his brother Juanma defeated Diego Schwartzman in the same tournament, as a result, Francisco he became Argentine No. 1 and Latin American No. 1 player on 13 February 2023.

In Buenos Aires, Argentina he defeated Yannick Hanfmann and Jaume Munar to reach back to back quarterfinals but lost to Bernabé Zapata Miralles.

At the 2023 Rio Open he reached the round of 16 but lost again to Zapata Miralles.

In Santiago he lost to eventual finalist fellow Argentine Tomás Martín Etcheverry in the first round.

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 made several more milestones after emerging into the top 100 in singles, reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal in Miami in his first Masters main draw, and winning his first ATP title at the 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 Australian Open and French Open in 2023, 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.

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.

As a result, he reached the top 100 in the singles rankings, joining Juan Manuel Cerúndolo as the first brothers in the Top 100 at the same time since Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev in May 2019.

Cerúndolo received a special exempt into the tournament in Rio de Janeiro the following week.

There, he beat Benoît Paire, Roberto Carballés Baena and again Kecmanović to reach his first ATP 500 semifinal, where he lost in straight sets to Diego Schwartzman.

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.

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.

In January 2021, he was one of two players to test positive for COVID-19 during the Australian Open qualifying event in Doha.

Cerúndolo reached his first ATP tour final at the 2021 Argentina Open as a qualifier but was defeated by world No. 9 Diego Schwartzman.

Cerúndolo qualified to represent Argentina at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

At the 2022 Argentina Open, he reached the quarterfinals of his home tournament as a qualifier defeating Miomir Kecmanović.