Argentina’s Francisco Cerúndolo, the highest-ranked Latin American man in the Roland Garros draw, was knocked out of the French Open on Saturday, beaten in a five-set Day 7 thriller by American Zachary Svajda — a result that dimmed one of the region’s brightest hopes in an unusually wide-open edition of the clay-court Grand Slam.
Svajda, ranked 85th in the world, eliminated the 25th-seeded Argentine after a roughly three-hour battle, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 on Court 14. Down two sets to love, Cerúndolo dug in to win the third and fourth and level the match, but Svajda steadied himself in the decider, breaking at 3-3 in the fifth and holding twice to close it out. Serving for the match at 5-3, the American let slip two match points before saving a break point with an ace and converting his third.
For Svajda, the win was the latest milestone in a breakthrough run. The 23-year-old from San Diego, playing his first Roland Garros main draw, had arrived in Paris with just one tour-level win on clay and had never reached the second week of a major. His father, Tom, died last October after a battle with cancer, and the American pointed to the sky after the victory. By reaching the fourth round he has guaranteed a new career-high ranking, climbing to a projected No. 59, and will next face 10th seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy, who earlier dispatched Learner Tien in straight sets.
The defeat stung for Cerúndolo, the world No. 26 and a 250-level clay specialist who took the Buenos Aires title earlier this year. Despite his pedigree on the surface, the Argentine has now failed to advance past the fourth round in five appearances at Roland Garros.
His exit, though, runs against the broader grain of what has been a remarkable week for Latin American tennis in Paris. On Friday, 19-year-old Brazilian João Fonseca produced the upset of the tournament so far, coming back from two sets down to beat Novak Djokovic 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 in a near-five-hour epic on Court Philippe-Chatrier — becoming the youngest player ever to take down the 24-time Grand Slam champion at a major. Fonseca next meets Norway’s Casper Ruud in the fourth round.
The week’s other headline belonged to Francisco’s younger brother, Juan Manuel Cerúndolo. The Argentine stunned world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the second round on Thursday, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1, reaching the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career after Sinner faded physically in the Paris heat. He was back on court Saturday against Spain’s Martín Landaluce with a place in the last 16 at stake; the match was still in progress at the time of writing.
Elsewhere in the draw, Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo and Colombia’s Camila Osorio were also among the Latin American names scheduled for Day 7 action. With two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz sidelined by a wrist injury and Sinner already eliminated, the men’s field remains the most open it has been in years — leaving the door ajar for the region’s contenders even as one of its standard-bearers heads home.
