ATP Tour

Cerundolo retires vs. Zverev, sending German into Toronto QFs

Argentine Francisco Cerundolo was forced to retire early into the second set of his night match with Alexander Zverev in Toronto Saturday night due to an abdominal strain.

The No. 24 in the PIF ATP Rankings began the match with kinesiology tape on his abs and was treated by the physio after the fifth game, after which he was unable to serve anywhere near top speed.

Later, in highly unusual scenes, Zverev embraced and consoled Cerundolo on the 5-4 changeover before serving out the set.

Cerundolo, who had only retired twice in his tour-level career (both times in 2023), played one additional game in the second set before stopping play.

Zverev advances to play defending champion Alexei Popyrin.

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World No. 3 Zverev improved to 38-14 on the year as he continued his quest for an eighth ATP Masters 1000 and second in Canada (2017 Montreal). He is the third active male to reach five quarter-finals at the event.

The victory also lifted the two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion past Novak Djokovic to third in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin.