Cerundolo sinks home hope Shevchenko for Almaty SF spot, Vukic upsets Tiafoe

Francisco Cerundolo served up some swift revenge on Friday at the Almaty Open.

The fourth-seeded Argentine downed home favourite Alexander Shevchenko 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at the Kazakhstani ATP 250. Cerundolo, who fell to an opening-round defeat to Shevchenko in Shanghai just 13 days ago, converted three of six break points he earned to set a last-four meeting with Gabriel Diallo.

“I’m super happy. I knew it was going to be a really tough match,” said Cerundolo in his on-court interview. “We played last week in Shanghai and he beat me in a really close match. I knew he was playing super good, I told him that at the net. I knew what I had to do and I think I did it really well. I served well, and I’m really happy to get to another semi-final, and my first on hard courts this year.”

Cerundolo won 92 per cent (24/26) of points behind his first serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to his 65-minute triumph against Shevchenko. The 26-year-old, who won his third ATP Tour title in Umag in July, will now prepare for just his second tour-level semi-final on hard courts following his breakout run at the 2022 Miami Open presented by Itau.

His next test in Kazakhstan is a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Diallo, who earlier upset second seed Alejandro Tabilo 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The 23-year-old Canadian Diallo, who has risen 19 spots to No. 99 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run in Almaty so far, will be competing in his first ATP Tour quarter-final.

“I haven’t watched [Diallo] a lot,” said Cerundolo. “We warmed up today together, but I don’t think I’ve seen many of his matches. I’m going to watch a little bit of him [on video] and learn how he plays. I think it’s going to be a tough match. He’s huge, he serves really well, hits the ball really well. Here in these conditions, he’s going to be super tough.”

Top seed Frances Tiafoe followed Tabilo out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage after Aleksandar Vukic downed the American 6-2, 7-6(11) to reach his third ATP Tour semi-final.

Vukic let slip four match points in a dramatic second-set tie-break, during which Tiafoe also earned two set points. The Australian World No. 85 made no mistake with his fifth match point, however, and he closed out for an 89-minute victory in which he sent down 13 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Awaiting Vukic in the semi-finals in Almaty will be third seed Karen Khachanov or the only home favourite remaining in the draw, wild card Beibit Zhukayev.

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