MiamiCerundolo seals victory after three-and-a-half-hour rain delay in South Florida
March 25, 2025
Peter Staples/ATP Tour
Francisco Cerundolo defeats Casper Ruud on Tuesday at the Miami Open presented by Itau. By ATP Staff
Francisco Cerundolo cooly served some South Florida revenge on Tuesday afternoon at the Miami Open presented by Itau.
The Argentine upset fifth seed Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-2 to reach his third quarter-final in four appearances at the hard-court ATP Masters 1000. Cerundolo’s 87-minute triumph was against the same opponent who ended his breakout 2022 Miami run at the semi-final stage.
“I like the city. I like Miami. I always found it good since the first time I came here,” said Cerundolo. “A lot of Argentinian fans and Latin Americans. I spend a lot of good-quality time outside the court and that is probably something that inspires me to play well.”
After letting slip three break points from 0/40 in the opening game against Ruud, Cerundolo eventually made his breakthrough on return at 3-3. He converted his fourth break point of that game and held firm on serve to take the opening set, before racing to victory in style in the second. The only thing that delayed the 23rd seed’s victory was a three-hour, 30-minute rain delay that arrived at 5-1 in the second set.
Beast mode: ACTIVATED 🚀 @MiamiOpen | #MiamiOpen | @FranCerundolo pic.twitter.com/dI1GlgUTzB
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 25, 2025
By reaching back-to-back Masters 1000 quarter-finals at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and now in Miami, Cerundolo became the first Argentine to reach the last eight at both ‘Sunshine Double’ events in the same year since Juan Martin del Potro in 2018. Now 16-6 for the 2025 season, the 26-year-old leads Ruud 5-3 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
“I’m super happy. It’s always difficult when you’re playing a really good match, controlling the game, and you have to stop for rain,” said Cerundolo. “It’s not easy, but I was chill and came back to the match confident and played a really good service game. I’m super happy to get back-to-back Masters 1000 quarter-finals in the U.S., on hard courts. It’s a great achievement.”
Awaiting Cerundolo in the quarter-finals will be 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov, who kicked off the Tuesday schedule in Miami by defeating Brandon Nakashima 6-4. 7-5 on Grandstand.
Dimitrov expertly targeted his opponent’s second serve to clinch his fourth-round win. Nakashima dropped just three points behind his first delivery in the match, according to Infosys ATP Stats, but Dimitrov won 61 per cent (11/18) on second-serve return and converted two of five break points he earned.
The 2024 finalist Dimitrov would have exited the Top 20 after Miami had he lost to Nakashima. Instead, he is into his second quarter-final in South Florida, which he will contest as the No. 20 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.
