Argentine Cerundolo wins Cordoba title in first ATP main draw outing

[March 01, 2021]   

(Reuters) - Argentine teenager Juan Manuel Cerundolo completed a fairytale run on his ATP Tour main draw debut by bagging the Cordoba Open title on Sunday, becoming the first player in 17 years to win an ATP title at the first attempt.

The 19-year-old qualifier beat Spain's world number 47 Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-0 2-6 6-2 in the final of the claycourt tournament.

"It's kind of incredible. I can't believe it," Cerundolo said after his victory.

"I'm so happy to (win) this tournament and (achieve) this goal that I was hoping would happen sooner or later. But I can't believe it.

"There's so many things in my head right now that I can't express all of them. The only thing I can say is that I'm very happy and I'm going to enjoy this night."

The world number 335 was the fifth lowest ranked player to win an ATP title since 1990 and the youngest Argentine champion on the tour since Guillermo "King of Clay" Coria won the Vina Del Mar title in Chile at a similar age in 2001.

His maiden title on the men's tour helped the Buenos Aires-born Cerundolo jump 154 places to a career-best ranking of 181.

After splitting the first two sets with fifth seed Ramos-Vinolas, Cerundolo went 2-0 down in the decider before rallying to rattle off the last six games in the battle of left-handers and clinch the title.

"The key was to be mentally stable, because the match was very physical," Cerundolo said. "He's very solid with a good backhand and forehand. I was stable in my head, but in the second set he was (better) than me.

"In the third set I was able to get on top of him, but the key was to stay mentally stable."

Cerundolo will play his second ATP tournament on home clay in Buenos Aires next week at the Argentina Open.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney and Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai, Editing by Himani Sarkar and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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