US Open: Fran Cerúndolo seeks first quarterfinal in New York

Francisco Cerúndolo has another barrier to break at a Grand Slam. After defeating Taylor Fritz in a dramatic five-set comeback, the Argentine will meet Belgian youngster Alexander Blockx for a place in the US Open quarterfinals.

Cerúndolo, the 24th seed, dropped the opening two sets against the ninth-seeded Fritz before recovering to win 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Blockx also produced a major upset, defeating fifth-seeded Italian Flavio Cobolli 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.

The Belgian, 21 and ranked 30th in the world, already knows how to beat Cerúndolo. He won their only previous meeting, in the Madrid Masters 1000 round of 16 in April, 7-6 (10-8), 6-2. Blockx said he was surprised Cerúndolo had overturned the match against Fritz after trailing by two sets and a break, but called the Argentine “an incredible player.”

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To be honest, I was quite surprised that Cerúndolo beat Fritz because Taylor was two sets to love up and had a break lead, and you do not expect him to lose in that situation. Tennis can be strange sometimes. But Francisco is also an incredible player.

Cerúndolo said the New York match would differ from their Madrid encounter. He described Blockx as a rapidly improving young player with a powerful serve, and compared him with other tall opponents who rely on serving power and heavy baseline shots.

The Argentine arrives in New York as a champion this year in Buenos Aires and at Queen’s, despite winning only one of his previous five matches before the tournament. He has reached the fourth round at a major before, but lost at that stage to Holger Rune at Roland Garros in 2023, Novak Djokovic in Paris in 2024 and Alexander Zverev at the start of this season’s Australian Open.

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It will be a different match from the one I lost to him in Madrid.