Australian Open: Francisco Cerúndolo won the Argentine duel against Guido Pella and Tomás Etcheverry progressed to the next round

Francisco Cerúndolo was awarded this Sunday evening on duel of Argentines against Guido Pella and became the first national tennis player to advance to the second round of the Australian Openfirst tennis Grand Slam of the season.

Cerúndolo, ranked 29th in the world, won 6-4, 6-4 and 6-3, in two hours and six minutes, against a Pella who re-entered the circuit in Melbourne, in the protected standings, after a long inactivity due to a chronic right knee injury which forced him to close out his 2021 season in October.

The 24-year-old tennis player from Buenos Aires asserted his maximum activity against a 32-year-old from Bahía, who had only played one match in 2022, in November at the Montevideo Challenger, a year after his previous match against the Spaniard Pedro Martínez, at the ATP 250 in Moscow.

Cerúndolo added so his first Grand Slam victory. He had previously lost in his debut at Roland Garros 2021 against the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro, in the first round of the next edition of the Parisian Open against the English Daniel Evans, and in their respective debuts at Wimbledon 2022, against Rafael Nadal, and the US Open in that same year, against Scotsman Andy Murray.

For his part, Tomás Etcheverry (79th) from La Plata also achieved his first big success in the Grand Slam tournaments by winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and 6-4, in two hours and 56 minutes, against the French Gregoire Barrere (83rd).

In the 2022 editions of the four major tournaments on the circuit, Etcheverry had lost to Spaniard Pablo Carreño Busta in Melbourne, Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic at Roland Garros, Frenchman Ugo Humbert at Wimbledon and Frenchman Hubo Grenier in the United States.

In the next round, the 23-year-old from Buenos Aires will face the Italian Jannik Sinner (16th), who eliminated Kyle Edmund with partials of 6-4, 6-0 and 6-2.

The first day of activities of the Australian Open is also scheduled for the presence of Sebastián Báez (44th) against the local Jason Kubler (84th), who participates invited by the organization, and Federico Coria (76th) will clash with the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (78th).

The last to appear will be Rosario Nadia Podoroska (191st) against the French Leolia Jeanjean (109th).

IS