ATP Rio de Janeiro, day 4: great triumph for Seba Báez and elimination for Fran Cerúndolo, while Alcaraz advances

There is only one Argentinian who will be in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro: Sebastian Baez. The man from Buenos Aires, 35th in the world rankings, overtook the Peruvian John Paul Varillas (81) this Thursday, on a day when another of the representatives of the Legion as Francis Cerundolo it was deleted earlier Baena Horses (73) and Carlos Alcarazthe absolute favourite, got rid of the unpredictable Fabio Fognini.

The San Martín native accepted the next round thanks to a win by runs of 7-5 and 7-6 (6), and in this way he is the only Argentine still running in the race. His next rival will be the Chilean Nicholas Jarry (139th), who is in full resurgence and has surpassed the Spaniard Pedro Martínez (76).

Previously, Francisco Cerúndolo (33) had been eliminated in the round of 16 by Spain’s Bernabé Carballes Baena (73), who beat him 6-1, 4-6 and 6-1.

In the last minute, world number two Alcaraz beat Italian Fabio Fognini (86) 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 and advanced to the quarterfinals of a tournament that was champion last year. .

The 19-year-old tennis player from Murcia, the first favorite in Brazil, had difficulties in the first set against the Italian, who he ended up losing due to mistakes in the base plays, but from the second set he showed his best tennis so far and completely dominated .

The other tennis players who have already secured a place in the quarterfinals in Rio are the British Cameron Norrie (13 ATP), second favorite in Brazil; Bolivian Hugo Dellien (111 ATP) and Spaniard Albert Ramos Viñolas (47 ATP).

The ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro, which takes place on the clay courts of the Brazilian Jockey Club and offers prizes of 2.2 million dollars, is part of the clay tour of South America, which began with the Córdoba Open and the Argentina Open, and will conclude next week with the ATP 250 in Santiago (Chile).