High-level final

Top seed against second seed, no surprises and the favorites lived up to their status!

Cerundolo is still chasing his first title in Buenos Aires; he has already played two finals but each time he kind of missed the mark. There’s quite a bit of pressure and he’ll have to rise above it to finally get over the hump. His semi-final was finally convincing after two fairly average first rounds; he managed his match better and didn’t get broken either, which is reassuring before this very important match against Darderi. He also has revenge to take, since in their last meeting it was Darderi who beat him in Sweden for the title, precisely! That brings their H2H to 2–2. It’s never one-way traffic between them, and even before this Cerundolo didn’t have much of a margin, but now Darderi has stepped up another level.

The Italian, Argentine by birth, is playing almost at home here. His whole family is there and he’s on fire; his tournament has been just perfect so far with another masterclass in the semi-final against Baez. A big, hard-fought first set and then Baez cracked; Darderi is monstrous in every area. I also like the fact that he’s already beaten Cerundolo in a tournament final; having that kind of edge is no small thing mentally. In terms of play, the one who ends up on the back foot will probably be the one who loses; we’ve got two players who are particularly strong on the forehand side and who like to dictate the rallies. Darderi has the advantage of a better-quality serve and, in my opinion, a stronger mentality. Honestly, I think Darderi is playing much better than Cerundolo at the moment and I see him winning again.