Cerundolo to crash Alcaraz's clay-court opener? 'Maybe it will be third time lucky'

Carlos Alcaraz will need to be on his guard Wednesday. Playing his first clay-court match since last year’s Paris Olympics and aiming for his maiden victory at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, the Spaniard faces Francisco Cerundolo in a tough opening match. The Argentine has been in top form this season, leading the ATP Tour with 17 match wins, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

“I’ve played him on grass, on hard and now it’s on clay, so maybe it will be third time lucky,” Cerundolo said, looking ahead to his match against the second seed.

Cerundolo and Alcaraz met just weeks ago at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where the Spaniard earned a 6-3, 7-6(4) quarter-final win in their second Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. Alcaraz stormed back from 1-4 in the second set to fight off the three-time tour-level titlist and declared after the match, “Today was about surviving”.

Alcaraz also defeated Cerundolo last year on grass at The Queen’s Club, home to an ATP 500 event.

Last year’s Roland Garros champion will be playing his first clay-court match of the season and just the second of his career in Monte-Carlo. The 21-year-old lost his opening match in his 2022 appearance against Sebastian Korda.

Meanwhile, Cerundolo has played half of his 24 matches this season on clay. En route to a final appearance at his home tournament in Buenos Aires, Cerundolo earned the highest-ranked win of his career when he upset World No. 2 Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals.

On Monday in Monte-Carlo, Cerundolo looked right at home, racing past 2019 champion Fabio Fognini 6-0, 6-3.

“It’s always special to play again on clay. I don’t know if it’s my surface, because I’ve been doing really good on hard, but it’s the one I grew up on and played on all my life,” said Cerundolo.

Cerundolo will return to Court Rainier III, aiming to stun Alcaraz just a day removed from top seed Zverev losing his opening match to Matteo Berrettini.

“It’s going to be a tough match for sure,” Cerundolo said of facing Alcaraz. “He can play amazing on any surface. Indian Wells, we played a really good match, tough conditions — super windy, cold. We didn’t play amazing, but it was a tough match.”