Buenos Aires, February 16 – Top seed and local favorite Francisco Cerundolo secured his fourth ATP title with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italy's Luciano Darderi in the Argentina Open final.
The defeated finalist from 2021 and 2025, hometown favorite Cerundolo, displayed nerves of steel in a closely contested final set, where almost all the games featured at least one break point, to claim his fourth ATP Tour trophy and his first on Argentine soil.
Cerundolo had some difficulty on serve at times, but dominated at the baseline to win the match in one hour and 37 minutes on the outdoor clay court of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.
The 27-year-old broke Darderi early in both sets and sealed victory with his trademark inside-out forehand.
"This is the best moment of my career so far," said Cerundolo, who had previously lost two finals at the ATP 250 event.
"I wanted to win in my hometown and country, in front of my family and friends. I thought this day might never come, but today I played one of the best matches of my career."
"I played aggressively and didn't allow him to take control at any point. It's a final, so you have to go for it, and I played for every point here."
Second seed Darderi won 73 percent of points on his first serve but only 24 percent on his second, while also committing 29 unforced errors.
Cerundolo, ranked No. 19 in the ATP Rankings, is the seventh home champion in the history of the Argentina Open, which was first held in 2001. The 27-year-old has now won a leading 46 matches on clay since the start of the 2024 season, two more than second-placed Darderi.
Despite missing out on his fifth ATP Tour title, Darderi will climb to a career-high world No. 21 on Monday, while Cerundolo remains at No. 19.
