ATP Tour

‘For the family!’ Cerundolo avenges his brother, sinks Navone in Bastad

Francisco Cerundolo channelled some recent family pain at the hands of Mariano Navone to earn an impressive opening win Thursday at the Nordea Open.

Cerundolo overcame his good friend and countryman Navone 6-3, 6-3 to book his quarter-final spot at the Swedish ATP 250. With Navone having defeated Juan Manuel Cerundolo in an ATP Challenger Tour final in Germany last week, Francisco light-heartedly alluded to a sense of satisfaction at having avenged his brother.

“Of course it’s always difficult [to play a fellow Argentine]. Mariano is a super close friend of mine,” said Cerundolo. “We practise a lot together in Buenos Aires. It’s always tough to play a friend, someone you know well, so I’m very happy to get this win.

“I had to avenge my family, because Mariano beat my brother last week, so it couldn’t be two in a row!”

Cerundolo is competing as the top seed at an event where he lifted his maiden ATP Tour title in 2022. With his 93-minute victory against Navone, the No. 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings became the second player to register 20 tour-level wins on clay this year after Carlos Alcaraz. Cerundolo awaits either Hugo Gaston or seventh seed Damir Dzumhur in the quarter-finals.

Earlier, Camilo Ugo Carabelli continued his career best season on the ATP Tour by outlasting Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-3 to reach his third quarter-final of the year. The fifth-seeded Argentine reached consecutive clay-court semi-finals in Rio and Santiago in February and has earned 15 of his 17 tour-level wins on the surface.

Showtime in Bastad 🤩@camilougo with a moment of pure magic 🪄@NordeaOpen | #NordeaOpen pic.twitter.com/2cNkwGOAyR

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 17, 2025

Now up to No. 54 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, three spots off his career high, Ugo Carabelli will take on Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic for a spot in the last four. Misolic rallied to upset third seed and defending champion Nuno Borges 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-3, dropping just four of 24 service points in the deciding set, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Borges memorably won his first ATP Tour title last year in Bastad, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the final, but he was unable to cope with Misolic’s court craft and guile during the pair's maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash.

Misolic is competing at his career-high World No. 105 and has jumped to No. 95 in the Live Rankings. The 23-year-old secured his first Top 50 win on clay against Denis Shapovalov at Roland Garros in May before falling to Novak Djokovic in the third round.