Francisco Cerundolo and Mariano Navone are the last two remaining Argentines in Buenos Aires and they will be part of quarterfinal action on Friday. Cerundolo faces top seed Alexander Zverev; Navone meets rising star Joao Fonseca.

Joao Fonseca vs. Mariano Navone

Fonseca is firmly on the rise after winning the NextGen ATP Finals in December and upsetting Andrey Rublev at the Australian Open in January. The 18-year-old Brazilian now finds himself at the Argentina Open, where he booked a quarterfinal spot by beating Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 6-3 and Federico Coria 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Fonseca is 15-2 in his last 17 matches.

Navone ended Fonseca’s 2024 Rio de Janeiro run in the quarterfinals and they will meet again on Friday in Buenos Aires. The overall head-to-head series is tied at 1-1, as Fonseca prevailed 11-9 in a third-set tiebreaker at the 2022 San Leopoldo Challenger. Like his opponent, Navone started to make serious strides last season. The 23-year-old Argentine is up to 47th in the rankings and his clay-court prowess has been on display again this week with straight-set wins over Francisco Comesana and No. 2 seed Holger Rune. Fonseca will have to raise his level considerably from what was on display against Coria if he wants to take down Navone on clay in Argentina.

Pick: Navone in 3

 

(1) Alexander Zverev vs. (5) Francisco Cerundolo

Cerundolo had to get through a second-round matchup with his brother on Wednesday night, and that is exactly what he did. The world No. 28 cruised 6-2, 6-3 in what was their first-ever main-tour encounter, improving to 2-0 overall in the head-to-head series. Preceded by a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Luciano Darderi in round one, it has been a routine week at the office for Cerundolo.

The competition level gets a lot tougher in the form of Zverev, although Cerundolo won their only previous encounter 6-3, 6-4 last spring in Madrid. That was–and still is–a rather bizarre result, and it’s one that has no reason to be replicated on Friday. Cerundolo is very good on clay and is playing at home, but Zverev is simply on a different level. The second-ranked German is no slouch on the red stuff, himself, and he comes in with a 9-1 record for the season–losing only to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final. Zverev powered past Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday and should be in line for another convincing victory.

Pick: Zverev in 2