Before the start of this season,
Facundo Díaz Acosta
had won only two matches on the most important circuit in men's tennis. But in this 2024, he exploded. And after breaking several barriers on the South American clay court tour - including his first title, at the Argentina Open -, he is having a great week at the
ATP 500 in Barcelona
, where this Thursday he made it into the top eight.
The left-hander born in La Lucila achieved a great victory against
Fabian Marozsan
, 39th in the world and who had been one of the great surprises of the Miami Masters 1000. The Hungarian - executioner of Holger Rune (7th) and Alex De Miñaur (10th) in the Florida competition - took the first set, but the Argentine reacted, winning 3-6, 6-3 and 6-1 , in one hour and 46 minutes, and will play his first quarterfinal of an ATP tournament outside of Argentina.
Whoever also secured their best ranking, 46th place, will have a difficult challenge in that instance, but with a double prize. He will face
Stefanos Tsitsipas , fifth seed and champion last week in Monte Carlo, who defeated the Spanish
Roberto Carballes Baena
7-5, 6-3
. If he manages to hit the Greek, number seven in the world, he will get into the semis and reach the top 40 for the first time.
Marozsan set the pace in the opening set, in which he got two breaks. The first to zero, in the fifth game, to go ahead 3-2. And the second, in the ninth game, again without giving up any points, to close the initial chapter.
Far from collapsing, Díaz Acosta, currently ranked 53rd in the ranking, started the second set with a
break
, protected his serve without granting any chance of a break and forced the third set, after once again stealing his rival's serve in the ninth game (6-3).
And in the final partial, he was clearly dominant. He won 13 of the 15 points he played with his first serve, did not give away any
break points
and converted two of the four break chances he had, to take the set without problems.
Díaz Acosta thus extended his great week at the
Conde de Godó
, in which he debuted with a resounding victory against the Spaniard
Daniel Rincón
, from the
qualy
, and in the second round he surprised the Croatian
Borna Coric
, 32nd in the world, in which It was his first celebration against a top 50 outside of Argentina.
Last year, he beat
Federico Coria
(then 49th) in Buenos Aires in his debut. And in the last edition of the Buenos Aires tournament, he surprised
Francisco Cerúndolo
(22nd) in the second round and then the Chilean
Nicolás Jarry
(21st) in the final.
Facu
, Pan American champion in
Santiago 2023
and virtually qualified for the
Paris Olympic Games (the gold opened the door for him, but he will have to wait for the Olympic ranking to close to see if he can use the quota), joined
Tomás Etcheverry
in the Barcelona quarterfinals
.
The man from La Plata, 13th seed, who beat the American
Brandon Nakashima
and will now go against the British
Cameron Norrie
, 12th seeded.
Ruud's victory and Fils' surprise
The round of 16 day in Barcelona also left the logical victory of
Casper Ruud
, third favorite, and an unexpected celebration from
Arthur Fils
, who dropped
Alex De Miñaur
.
C-Ruud Control 🚗@CasperRuud98 is into his 6th quarter-final of the season with a 6-1 6-4 win over Thompson!#BCNOpenBS pic.twitter.com/Pjnbgj0cU8
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 18, 2024
Ruud did not break much sweat to seal his place in the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time. The Norwegian, world number six and finalist in Monte Carlo last week, defeated Australian
Jordan Thompson
6-1, 6-4 in one hour and 12 minutes.
"I'm playing better compared to last year. Tomorrow I will play in the quarterfinals here in Barcelona, my best result so far, and I hope to go further. Game by game, but I hope to continue competing here this weekend," Ruud was excited. , who will now clash with the Italian
Matteo Arnaldi
, winner of Marco Trungelliti.
Fils, meanwhile, beat De Minaur 7-5 and 6-2, 11th in the world, who had just defeated the Spanish
Rafael Nadal
, the undisputed king of clay, in the previous round.
The Frenchman, 19 years old and 36th in the ranking, is one of the great stars of the
Next Gen and
will play the quarterfinals in an ATP 500 for the second time in his career. His rival in that instance will be the Serbian
Dusan Lajovi
c, who He won 7-6 (12-10), 3-6 and 6-1 against the Spanish
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
, 11th seed.