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Match Report
Cerundolo ends 17-year-old Engel’s Almaty run, Tabilo advances
Fifth seed Machac continues red-hot form
October 16, 2024
Andrey Udartsev / KTF.kz
Francisco Cerundolo is chasing his second title of the season.
By Sam Jacot
#NextGenATP 17-year-old Justin Engel made history on Monday at the Almaty Open where he became the first player born in 2007 or later to win an ATP Tour match. But his run at the ATP 250 grinded to a halt on Wednesday when fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo moved past the German wild card 6-4, 7-6(3).
Engel, who defeated Coleman Wong on his tour-level debut, put up a fight against Cerundolo in an absorbing 90-minute clash. He battled back from a break down in the second set to eventually force a tie-break and showed flashes of brilliance, striking 15 winners.
However, Cerundolo was the more consistent, committing nine fewer unforced errors (24-35) in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting to seal his spot in the quarter-finals.
“It is always difficult to play a new guy,” Cerundolo said. “I don’t know how he plays and he is a young guy who has nothing to lose, so he plays freely. I think it was a controlled match from my side on my service games until 5-4 when I served and missed a few easy forehands.
“After that it was difficult to close the match because he started playing really well but luckily I finished it in the tie-break.”
The fourth seed has now recorded 30 tour-level wins in a season for the second time in his career, having earned 39 in 2023. Into his first hard-court quarter-final of the year, the Argentine will next meet qualifier Aslan Karatsev or Alexander Shevchenko.
Engel grew up idolising Rafael Nadal and balanced tennis with kickboxing until he was 12. The German, who lived in Moldova for three years with his grandparents, won his maiden ITF World Tennis Tour event in May in Villach, Austria.
The No. 458 player in the PIF ATP Rankings has won three further ITF titles since, and earlier this month notched his maiden ATP Challenger Tour main-draw victories to reach the quarter-finals at an event in Villena, Spain.
Second seed Alejandro Tabilo made a winning start in Almaty, cruising past German Maximilian Marterer 6-2, 6-4. The Chilean is aiming to rediscover his best form this week, having lost nine of his 10 previous matches prior to Wednesday’s win.
Earlier this year, the 27-year-old won titles in Auckland and Mallorca. Tabilo will play Gabriel Diallo in the quarter-finals.
The No. 2 seed gets it done 👊
Tabilo powers past Marterer 6-2 6-4 to move into the quarter-finals in Almaty!@ktf_kz | #AlmatyOpen pic.twitter.com/pzkk23tLMG
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 16, 2024
Canadian Diallo defeated Croatian Borna Coric 7-6(1), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals at a tour-level event for the first time. The 23-year-old, who came through qualifying to advance to the third round at the US Open in August, saved both break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats to advance after one hour and 46 minutes.
Fifth seed Tomas Machac continued his impressive recent form with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Kazakhstan wild card Timofey Skatov.
Machac reached his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in Shanghai last week, defeating World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets in the quarter-finals. The Czech also advanced to the last four in Tokyo at the end of September.
Machac is No. 25 in the PIF ATP Rankings and the highest-ranked player without an ATP Tour title. The 24-year-old is aiming to change that in Almaty, where he will next meet Beibit Zhukayev.
In first-round action, Australian Aleksandar Vukic defeated countryman James Duckworth 6-4, 7-5. Vukic will face eighth seed Adrian Mannarino in the second round.