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February is always a bit of an interesting month on the ATP Tour. The initial hard court swing in Australia has come to a close, and another couple of swings are played out throughout the month. Looking at the ATP calendar, February plays host to several outdoor clay events played in South America. Yet it also plays host to several indoor hard court events that are played in various places around the world. So of course, there is plenty of tennis going down over this relatively short period of time.
However, I’m not going to focus on the indoor hard-court events here. Instead, I’m going to focus on an interesting development that is taking place in South America. In fact, fittingly, the battle I am referencing is taking place in Argentina at the Cordoba Open. This 250-level event is played on outdoor red clay, as you’d expect for a tournament being played in Argentina. And looking at the draw, the number one seed is Diego Schwartzman while the number two seed is Francisco Cerundolo.
Both of these guys are Argentinian players, as you may already know. Yet adding to the excitement for this event, the two guys are just three places apart in the rankings. Schwartzman is ranked 28 while Cerundolo is ranked 31, so they are clearly locked in a battle to see who will be the Argentinian number one. Of course, Schwartzman is currently the number one ranked Argentinian since he is ranked 28, but Cerundolo is right on his heels.
So how will this battle play out? Let’s take a closer look.
Cerundolo or Schwartzman – Who Will Be Left Standing as the Number One?
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If you look at the live rankings points for the ATP, it’s clear that the Cordoba Open is huge concerning these two guys. Schwartzman has more points to defend than Cerundolo this week, so the pressure is on him really to win the event. But let’s look at both players and their chances before I give my opinion on who will be left standing.
Diego Schwartzman
If you look at Schwartzman’s form in recent months, things aren’t great. He has lost a bunch of matches to lower-ranked opponents who he should be beating. But it’s no secret that clay is where he shines, so this tournament could give the Argentinian new belief in himself to get results. Interestingly, he plays Cerundolo’s brother in his first match at the Cordoba Open.
Francisco Cerundolo
Cerundolo is an immensely talented and exciting player, in my opinion. He has one of the biggest forehands that I’ve seen in recent times. And his game is adaptable to many surfaces. Of course, with Cerundolo being Argentinian too, he can easily adapt his game to grind out there on the slower clay courts.
The Outcome – Quite Possibly Cerundolo
Given the poor form of Schwartzman compared to the rise of Cerundolo, I wouldn’t bet against Cerundolo taking the top spot from Schwartzman this week. As mentioned earlier, he has fewer points to defend this week too. This means that if he performs well and Schwartzman fails to win the tournament, he can go above Schwartzman.
Naturally, it’s going to be tight, but this is the week where Cerundolo can definitely establish himself as Argentina’s top player.
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