It’s been an incredible week of tennis in Argentina and we are down to our final two competitors! Will the qualifier Francisco Cerundolo or the No. 1 seed Diego Schwartzman take the title in Buenos Aires? Read on for my best guess!
ATP Buenos Aires Final Prediction: Francisco Cerundolo vs Diego Schwartzman
Francisco Cerundolo vs Diego Schwartzman
Head to Head: never played
Francisco Cerundolo has arrived in his first ATP Tour title with a 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-2 win over Albert Ramos in the semifinals! Cerundolo made 74% of his first serves and won 44% of the points on the Ramos serve. A first ATP Tour title is a big occasion and nerves may be a factor, but nerves certainly didn’t stop his brother, JM Cerundolo, from taking home his first ATP Tour title in Cordoba last week. Given that Cerundolo has also played a lot of end-of-tournament matches on the ATP Challenger Tour since the hiatus and I see him being prepared for this match.
Diego Schwartzman has had a significantly better run of form in Buenos Aires compared to Cordoba. While he fell in the quarterfinals of Cordoba, he’s into the final in Buenos Aires with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Miomir Kecmanovic. Schwartzman won 78% of his first serve points and 50% of the points on his return during the match against Kecmanovic. When Kecmanovic played Monteiro and Djere, on the other hand, he only lost 36% and 37% of his service points, respectively. This shows the quality of the Schwartzman return.
These two have never played before. I’m worried about the Cerundolo serve in this one, as his serve is one of the weaker parts of his game and one of Schwartzman’s biggest weapons is his return of serve. Cerundolo will have to control the court with his heavy forehand, but can he get good court positioning against Schwartzman? Not sure on that one. Schwartzman’s groundstrokes have been on fire this week and I think he’s just on another level compared to Cerundolo.
Diego Schwartzman will be your 2021 ATP 250 Buenos Aires champion!
Prediction: Schwartzman in 2
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