"It happens all over the world": Francisco Cerundolo responds to Alexander Zverev's criticism of crowd during Argentina Open

Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo has responded to criticism from the world number two Germany’s Alexander Zverev about the crowds behaviour in the competition. The 26-year-old secured arguably the biggest win of his career in the quarterfinal on Friday where he got the better of the Australian Open runner-up with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

After the match, Zverev criticised the crowd’s behaviour towards him, which, according to him, was a little too noisy and showed a lack of respect as well. Cerundolo has responded to the comments and believes that it was not unusual for something to happen on the day.

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"It happens all over the world when you play against a local player, not just here,” he said. “In France, in Brazil... people always support the locals and want to take you out of the match." Things improved even further for Cerundolo, who secured a thumping win in the semifinal against Spain’s Pedro Martinez in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-4.

He is now set to face Brazil’s young sensation Joao Fonseca in the final on Sunday in the hope of becoming the sixth Argentine player to lift the competition. His opponent, who is just 18 years old, defeated Laslo Djere in the semifinal with a score of 7-6, 5-7, 6-1. With that win, he becomes the youngest player to cement a spot in the final of an ATP tournament on clay court since Carlos Alcaraz back in 2021.

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Talking after the match, Fonseca explained how special it was to win the contest and secure a spot in the final. "Really special," he said. "Today was really difficult, against a really good player. He went through qualies, so he's playing amazing tennis. We already knew how Laslo can play, he won an ATP 500 [in 2019]. So, I played my best. Today was with my heart. Today was with pain. And we got through. There is one match to go, so let's go for it."

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