Fran Cerúndolo and Sebastián Báez won and there will be an Argentine finalist at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro

Argentine tennis players Francisco Cerúndolo AND Sebastiano Baeztwo of the best of their country and who currently occupy positions 22 and 30 in the ATP ranking, will meet this Saturday in one of the semi-finals of the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro, after winning their respective matches this Friday.

Cerúndolo won 3-6, 6-4 and 6-4 over Serbian Dusan Lajovic in a match that lasted two hours and 23 minutes, while Báez beat Brazilian Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 1-6 and 6-2 in two hours and 13 minutes.

Argentina has the possibility of having a third representative in the semi-final Mariano Navone (113th) He is yet to face the 17-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca (°650) in one of the quarterfinal matches this Friday.

Cerúndolo, seeded fourth in Rio de Janeiro, South America’s only ATP 500 tournament, made an important comeback after losing the first set 3-6 after the Serb broke serve twice.

The 25-year-old from Buenos Aires became the first semi-finalist of the tenth edition of the Rio Open.

It is the second time he has reached this stage, since in 2022 he was eliminated in the semi-finals by compatriot Diego Schwartzman, who ended up losing the title that year to Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.

Before getting rid of the Serbian in the quarterfinals, Cerúndolo eliminated the Spaniard Albert Ramos in the round of 16 with a resounding 6-2 and 6-1 and in the first round he also eliminated the Argentine Francisco Comesaña 6-1, 1-6 and 6- 2.

On Saturday he will try to reach his fifth final on the ATP circuit, after winning the titles at Bastad 2022 and Eastbourne in 2023.

His rival will be Báez, who, before eliminating Monteiro in the quarterfinals, beat his compatriot Facundo Díaz Acosta, champion of the Buenos Aires Open last Sunday, in the round of 16, 7-6, 6-3.

Báez, who had to overcome the pressure of the Brazilian fans, was clearly superior to Monteiro in the first round; In the second he suffered a collapse, but in the third he managed to recover by breaking the hosts’ serve twice in a row.

Navone, originally from the city of Buenos Aires on 9 de Julio 22 years ago, won his first two matches in an ATP in Rio, against Federico Coria (85) from Rosario and the German Yannick Hanfmann (56). His rival, Fonseca, beat him the only time they met, in the 2022 Sao Leopoldo Challenger.

The winner of the match will go to the semifinals against the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild (82) or the British Cameron Norrie (23), second seed and defender of the title.