ATP Tour

Cerundolo closes in on Alcaraz's clay-court win tally with Bastad QF win

Francisco Cerundolo overcame a testing three-set battle on Friday at the Nordea Open in Bastad, where he held firm to return to the semi-finals at the clay-court ATP 250.

The top-seeded Argentine weathered a free-hitting yet physically hampered Damir Dzumhur, who took three medical timeouts to treat his right shoulder, to ultimately prevail 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. With his one-hour, 46-minute victory, Cerundolo improved to a 21-9 clay-court record in 2025, trailing only World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz for the most wins on the surface this year.

“I try to take it in a positive way,” said Cerundolo, who won his maiden ATP Tour title in Bastad in 2022, when asked about the pressures of being the top seed. “If I’m the top seed here it’s because I’ve done pretty well during the year, so I take it as a compliment, not a pressure.

“It’s tough to maintain that level when you start playing a match really good. After the first set, he started playing better, and I maybe started to relax a little. It was super difficult after that but I’m happy because it was a super tough win for me.”

2025 ATP Tour clay-court win leaders

The three-time ATP Tour champion, Cerundolo is up one spot to No. 19 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, and will return to his career-high No. 18 on Monday if he reclaims the trophy in Bastad. He next faces Luciano Darderi, who delivered a resounding quarter-final statement to defeat fourth seed Sebastian Baez 6-0, 6-2.

The 23-year-old Italian was in peak form during his 64-minute win, in which he dropped just two of 19 first-serve points and did not face a break point, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Darderi, who is now into his fifth ATP Tour semi-final, impressed even himself with his high-quality showing.

“Today, I don’t know what happened, I played unbelievable, probably the best match of my career,” said Darderi. “If I play like this, it’s going to be easier [in the semi-finals], but I will try to do my best.”

Uplayable Luciano 😱

Darderi dismantles Baez 6-0 6-2 for his second ATP Tour semi-final of 2025!@NordeaOpen | #NordeaOpen | @Lucianodarderi_ pic.twitter.com/AlvW5vqPy1

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 18, 2025

Darderi, who won his second ATP Tour title in Marrakech in April, will look to carry his momentum into Saturday’s semi-final clash against top seed Cerundolo, who leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 2-1.

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In the other half of the draw, Camilo Ugo Carabelli surged past Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic 6-3, 7-5 to book his spot in his third ATP Tour semi-final of the season after deep runs in Rio and Santiago in February. This week in Bastad, the Argentine has jumped nine spots to a career-high No. 50 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

Standing between Ugo Carabelli and a maiden ATP Tour final is Dutchman Jesper de Jong, who rallied to upset good friend and countryman Tallon Griekspoor. De Jong, who improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Griekspoor, prevailed 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 to reach his second tour-level semi-final.