Cerundolo claims Umag title with late surge past Musetti

Battling back from behind for much of the match, Francisco Cerundolo earned his third ATP Tour title by fending off constant pressure from Lorenzo Musetti in Saturday's Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag final.

In a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) victory, the Argentine stopped his opponent from serving out the match at 5-4 in the third set and then roared back from 1/3 in the decisive tie-break, winning five straight points to take command of the match for the first time. On his third match point, a forehand volley winner sent Cerundolo onto the European clay on his back in celebration.

"It was an unreal battle," Cerundolo said after beating the Wimbledon semi-finalist, who is now 15-4 since the start of the grass season. "Lorenzo has played super great tennis the last month. He probably is one of the players who won the most matches on Tour so I knew it was going to be really tough tonight.

"I don't know how I came back. I fought until the last point and luckily I won the match. I'm super proud because it was a really tough battle."

Frantastic Francisco ?⚡️⭐️@FranCerundolo takes the win over Musetti 6-2 4-6 7-6(5) @CroatiaOpenUmag | #CroatiaOpenUmag pic.twitter.com/TvSamaAKAm

The 25-year-old will move up 11 places to No. 25 in the PIF ATP Rankings behind his title run, seven spots off his career high of No. 19 in 2023.

By improving to 3-2 in tour-level finals, Cerundolo claimed his third title in as many years following triumphs in Bastad in 2022 and last year in Eastbourne. He is the third ATP Tour champion this season to defeat both of the top two seeds en route to the title, having beaten top seed Andrey Rublev in the semis.

Cerundolo found the range on his explosive forehand in the second set but was pushed to the limit in nearly every service game in set three. After saving six break points in the deciding set, he could not stop Musetti from taking his seventh chance to build a 5-4 lead. But he swiftly broke back by taking his lone break chance of the set, then put on an attacking masterclass in the tie-break to claim the title.

"I didn't know what to do at the beginning," said Cerundolo, who did not create a break point in the first set, according to Infosys ATP Stats. "I wasn't playing too aggressive. I was letting him play really comfortable and I was feeling really bad on court, like there wasn't any chance to win. After that I got a lot of confidence and started playing better. After that I think it was a really good match."

It was Cerundolo's first Lexus ATP Head2Head win against Musetti, who won their lone previous meeting in the 2022 Hamburg semi-finals. Both players will now face quick turnarounds before competing in the Paris Olympics on Sunday.

"Both of us, we have to play tomorrow night," Cerundolo said. "I don't know how we're going to do it. I'm tired, I don't know how he is. But tomorrow is going to be really difficult for both of us because we're not going to sleep tonight, probably two, three hours because we have an early flight tomorrow.

"Arrive there, get a warm-up... and get on court. Me and him, probably we're going to leave everything tomorrow for our country. I want to play the Olympics really bad. I will get some energy from nowhere and try to do my best tomorrow."

[NEWSLETTER FORM]