By Jürgen Fritz, Mon 18 Jul 2022, Cover photo: © JFB

Francisco Cerundolo beat fellow Argentine Sebastian Baez in the final of the Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden, to win his first ATP tournament. Maxime Cressy was able to defeat John Isner in the semi-finals and Alexander Bublik in the final in Newport, USA, on grass. As a result, Baez, Cressy and Cerundolo each moved up about ten places in The True Tennis World Ranking.

Cerundolo wins his first ATP title in Bastad, Cressy in Newport

The 23-year-old Francisco Cerundolo already showed how well he can play tennis in his Wimbledon appearance against Rafael Nadal. There he had the misfortune to meet such a heavyweight right in the first round. At the Nordea Open (E) in Bastad, Sweden, last week, he met the Norwegian top seed Casper Ruud in the second round and not only played very well, but also beat the world number 7 in three sets. This was Cerundolo’s first win against a top ten player in his career. Victories followed against Karatsev and on Saturday in the semi-finals against the Top 15 player Carreno Busta, who had played grandiosely on Friday and swept Cerundolo’s compatriot Schwartzman, No. 17 in the world, off the court 6-1, 6-0. The Spaniard, the bronze medallist in Tokyo, then suffered a similar fate himself. Now Cerundolo Carreno Busta shot him off the court 6-3, 6-2 in 76 minutes. His 21-year-old compatriot Sebastian Baez offered more resistance in the final. But after Cerundolo defeated him 7-6 in the first set and took the lead in the second set with a break to 2-1 and then even a double break to 4-1, Baez’s resistance was broken and Cerundolo was able to wrap up his first ATP tournament victory. Baez climbs from 41 to 32 in the JFB ranking, Cerundolo from 52 to 42.

At the 250 tournament (E) in Newport, USA, Maxime Cressy showed what an excellent grass court player he is. The 25-year-old beat compatriot John Isner, seeded second, in three sets in the semi-finals and then Alexander Bublik, seeded third, 7-3 in a third-set tiebreak. It is also Cressy’s first title on the ATP Tour. The US American had already reached the final in Eastbourne (E), where he lost very narrowly to his compatriot Taylor Fritz 4-7 in the third set tiebreak. He then beat top ten player Felix Auger-Aliassime in four sets in the first round at Wimbledon (A). With the ten points for his tournament win, Cressy rises from 48 to 35 in the JFB ranking.

Andrey Rublev also improved slightly with his semi-final appearance in Bastad (3.5 points), overtaking Cameron Norrie again and moving up from 10 to 9. Jenson Brooksby, on the other hand, drops significantly from 34 to 45, as he reached the final in Newport last year but did not compete there this year.

The True Tennis World Ranking

And this is how the current JFB 52-week men’s tennis world ranking looks after Bastad (E) and Newport (E):

Here you can read how The True Tennis World Ranking works

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