Cerundolo ends 17-year-old Engel's Almaty run
#NextGenATP 17-year-old Justin Engel made history on Monday at the Almaty Open where he became the first player born in 2007 or later to win an ATP Tour match. But his run at the ATP 250 grinded to a halt on Wednesday when fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo moved past the German wild card 6-4, 7-6(3).
Engel, who defeated Coleman Wong on his tour-level debut, put up a fight against Cerundolo in an absorbing 90-minute clash. He battled back from a break down in the second set to eventually force a tie-break and showed flashes of brilliance, striking 15 winners.
However, Cerundolo was the more consistent, committing nine fewer unforced errors (24-35) in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting to seal his spot in the quarter-finals.
“It is always difficult to play a new guy,” Cerundolo said. “I don’t know how he plays and he is a young guy who has nothing to lose, so he plays freely. I think it was a controlled match from my side on my service games until 5-4 when I served and missed a few easy forehands.
“After that it was difficult to close the match because he started playing really well but luckily I finished it in the tie-break.”
[ATP APP]The fourth seed has now recorded 30 tour-level wins in a season for the second time in his career, having earned 39 in 2023. Into his first hard-court quarter-final of the year, the Argentine will next meet qualifier Aslan Karatsev or Alexander Shevchenko.
Engel grew up idolising Rafael Nadal and balanced tennis with kickboxing until he was 12. The German, who lived in Moldova for three years with his grandparents, won his maiden ITF World Tennis Tour event in May in Villach, Austria.
The No. 458 player in the PIF ATP Rankings has won three further ITF titles since, and earlier this month notched his maiden ATP Challenger Tour main-draw victories to reach the quarter-finals at an event in Villena, Spain.
In first-round action, Australian Aleksandar Vukic defeated countryman James Duckworth 6-4, 7-5. Vukic will face eighth seed Adrian Mannarino in the second round.
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