Oh brother! On Day 3 at the US Open, Court 12 is keeping it all in the family.
First up, 25-year-old Argentinian and No. 20 seed Francisco Cerundolo hit the court to battle Jiri Vesely for a spot in the third round. Win or lose, as he heads back to the locker room, he may want to scan the surrounding area for a familiar face; his 21-year-old brother, world No. 93 Juan Manuel Cerundolo, will be heading to the same location at that time in hopes of earning his own third-round berth against No. 21 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Francisco Cerundolo is in the midst of the greatest season of his life, earning a career-high ranking of world No. 19 in June after upsetting Top 10 player Taylor Fritz to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros.
But up there with that accomplishment is the joy he feels for his brother, who came back from two sets down in his first-round match on Day 1 to defeat Ilya Ivashka in the first round and earn his first-ever Grand Slam victory.
“A crazy triumph for my family and for Argentina today,” Francisco Cerundolo told ESPN, per a report by Reuters. “I'm very happy for Juan Manuel.”
Could US Open fans see an all-Cerundolo semifinal? Well, should they both advance—which would mean Francisco would most likely have to take out No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic in the Round of 16, sure to be the second biggest sports victory by an Argentinian in the last year—it would mark the 11th time brothers have faced each other at Flushing Meadows.
The last time this happened was in 1992, when Emilio Sanchez defeated Javier Sanchez in the third round. Both Emilio and Javier are brothers to US Open champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who reached the women’s singles final that year.
