{"id":243569,"date":"2025-09-21T09:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T09:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/243569\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T09:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T09:34:09","slug":"san-fran-cerundolo-sees-off-rune-world-takes-5-3-lead-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/243569\/","title":{"rendered":"San Fran-Cerundolo sees off Rune, World takes 5-3 lead | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Francisco Cerundolo maintained his perfect Laver Cup record on Saturday at Chase Center, securing another critical point for Team World with a straight-sets victory over Holger Rune 6-3, 7-6(5) and giving his team an overall 5-3 lead in the competition.<\/p>\n

Playing his first match at Laver Cup 2025 \u2013 and his first on Saturday in three editions \u2013 the Argentine delivered a composed, attacking display to maintain his undefeated record with Team World.<\/p>\n

Ranked No. 21 and as high as 18 earlier this season, Cerundolo entered the match riding the euphoria of Alex de Minaur\u2019s earlier heroics. Australia\u2019s No.1 stunned six-time Laver Cup champion Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-4 in the opening session, leveling the leaderboard and energizing Team World.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Cerundolo carried that momentum into his battle with Rune. Cerundolo had defeated the Dane at a Challenger in 2019, while Rune turned the tables in 2023 in a gripping five-set win at Roland Garros. This time, on the black court of San Francisco, the Argentine\u2019s blend of heavy forehands and sharp volleys proved decisive.<\/p>\n

\"AndreAndre Agassi reaches to embrace an all-star Team World player, Francisco Cerundolo.<\/p>\n

Cerundolo drew first blood in the sixth game of the first set, breaking for a 4-2 lead. Serving at 5-3, he stayed composed under pressure and sealed the opening set 6-3.\u00a0 The second set began with another early break, Cerundolo forcing errors with his penetrating forehand. Rune broke back straight away, and the match continued on serve with De Minaur returning to the bench to lend advice following his post-match media obligations.<\/p>\n

Rune\u2019s confidence rising, the Dane continued to press Cerundolo\u2019s serve, while holding his own with ease. But, as Captain Agassi later stated in the on-court interview, Cerundolo proved to be, \u201cjust the Rock of Gibraltar.\u201d \u00a0Added the Argentine, grinning broadly as he had done throughout the match, \u201cHopefully, I can bring more wins to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the final count, Cerundolo landed 30 winner\u2019s to Rune\u2019s 20 over the two-hour contest, and two of those came in the last two points of the second set tiebreaker. \u201cI tried to put pressure on him and look for the next good shot,\u201d Cerundolo said. \u201cI build the points really good, tried to stay there, wait for the correct ball to attack. I think I did it quite okay with my forehand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cerundolo\u2019s victory marked another contribution to Team World\u2019s growing confidence under new captain Agassi. Having reached the quarterfinals in Indian Wells and Miami, and semifinals in Madrid and Munich earlier this year, the Argentine has proven himself a reliable teammate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we had a great day, me, Alex, all the time,\u201d Cerundolo said. \u201cI think putting Team World ahead is fantastic to get into the evening now.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Team World building momentum, attention now shifts to tonight\u2019s marquee showdown: reigning US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz against Team World\u2019s top prospect, Taylor Fritz. The last match on Saturday night features the two Team World Alex\u2019s \u2013 De Minaur and Michelsen \u2013 against Rune and Casper Ruud for Team Europe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Francisco Cerundolo maintained his perfect Laver Cup record on Saturday at Chase Center, securing another critical point for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":243570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[74411,4145,62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-243569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-francisco-cerundolo","9":"tag-holger-rune","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115241608456566216","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}