Buenos Aires
\n Cerundolo one win from banishing Buenos Aires heartbreak<\/p>\n
Top-seeded Cerundolo into the final without losing a set, to face Darderi for the trophy<\/p>\n
February 14, 2026<\/p>\n
Marcelo Endelli\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Francisco Cerundolo defeats Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Saturday to reach his third Buenos Aires final.
\n By ATP Staff<\/p>\n
One more win.<\/p>\n
That is all that separates Argentine Francisco Cerundolo<\/a> from his first title on home soil after the top seed defeated countryman and seventh seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry<\/a> 6-3, 7-5 on Saturday to reach the final of the IEB+ Argentina Open.<\/p>\n Twice before Cerundolo had reached the final of the ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires and on each occasion he fell just short. Now the 27-year-old will try to take advantage of his third opportunity to lift the trophy Sunday when he takes on second seed Luciano Darderi<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cJust win the last match. I think that\u2019s the only thing I have to do now,\u201d Cerundolo said in his on-court interview. \u201cMy first final here [was] against probably peak [Diego] Schwartzman in his best moment of his career, [ninth] in the world. I wasn\u2019t mature enough to play those matches. He killed me. <\/p>\n \u201cThen last year I played an incredible [Joao] Fonseca. I think we played an amazing final, but he was a little bit better than me. So tomorrow I will try to be a little bit better than the opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n Cerundolo is now 15-7 at the Buenos Aires event according to the Infosys ATP Win\/Loss Index. Although he made the final in 2021 and 2025, this is the first occasion in which he made the championship match without losing a set.<\/p>\n In an all-Argentine battle against Etcheverry, Cerundolo leaned on his big forehand in critical moments and won 39 per cent of his return points to put consistent pressure on Etcheverry, taking a 3-2 lead in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.<\/p>\n \u201cSuper happy. It was really difficult conditions today, super windy. Really tough to play. I think we both tried to play our best. It was difficult. We managed to play good points. I think I served really well, played my service games amazing\u2026 I think that was the key. I didn\u2019t let him play with so much confidence in his service games.\u201d<\/p>\n