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Mariano Navone This is, without a doubt, one of the most outstanding appearances of the season on the tennis circuit. The 23-year-old player, born in the Buenos Aires town of 9 de Julio, continues to take valuable steps on the tour. During his first experience in the main draw of the US Openshowed his evolution on the big stages on hard surfaces. On court number 4, he beat German Daniel Altmaier (ranked 89th, 47th in October last year) 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1.
A little later, there was another Argentine impact. Facundo Díaz Acosta, of the same age and in the heat of a season he will never forget, achieved the triumph of his life: the first impact in a Grand Slam.
Navone beat German Altmaier in the first round of the US OpenCourtesy of Dino Garcia
World number 125 last January, the live ranking places him at 32nd on the ATP Tour (he was 29th last June). Facing Altmaier, Navone, who is coached by Andres Dellatorreachieved his second victory in a main draw (the first was in the opening round of the last Roland Garros, against the Spaniard Pablo Carreño Busta). The triumph in the Big Apple came at an ideal time, since the Argentine had completed the North American tour on hard surfaces without success, falling in the debut of Montreal, Cincinnati y Winston-Salem.
“I had been through many difficult weeks, several defeats, the grass court tour had been difficult, I arrived here with a lot of doubts, I couldn’t get comfortable at the start of the match. I didn’t know what to hold on to. At one point I even moved my old man (Luis; his mother is Analía) to a different position; I told him to go higher. I was able to concentrate much more. The sound of the ball was different. I realized that I can play well here, on this surface; I have to believe it a little more“The win means a lot for that reason,” Navone described in ESPN.
Mariano Navone’s joy at winning the US Open for the first timeCourtesy of Dino Garcia
This season, Navone has continued to break down personal barriers. The Argentine player has reached his first two ATP finals (he lost in Rio de Janeiro and Bucharest), competed for the first time in the Olympic Games (he reached the second round in Paris 2024) and, now in New York, he has had the pleasure of triumphing for the first time on the big circuit on cement. His last professional celebration on that surface had been on the Future circuit, at the M15 in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt), in November 2020. Another life.
“In a five-set match, everything is different. When I won the third set, I thought that in other tournaments I would be in the showers and everyone would be happy, but I had to keep fighting. The worst was yet to come, which was the fourth and fifth sets. I was able to come to terms with the suffering.” I feel reflected in Diego (Schwartzman)who won thousands of matches here, so I focused a bit on that,” said Navone, who will face the British in the second round of the last Grand Slam of the season. Daniel Evans, who defeated Russian Karen Khachanov 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4), 4-6 and 6-4, in what became the longest match in the history of the US Open: 5h35m, ahead of the 5h26m of the match that Stefan Edberg won against Michael Chang in 1992 (6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7 and 6-4). Evans, ranked 184th, recovered from 0-4 in the fifth set.
A while later, he lost Federico Corialacking confidence in the season. Nuno Borges sealed the victory over the Argentine in three sets (6-2, 6-4, 6-1), in the presentation of the US Open 2024; now, the Portuguese will play against the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in the next instance. Almost immediately, another shock occurred.
Like Navone, Facundo Diaz Acosta He got his first win in New York. And something more: his first Grand Slam success. He won 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 over Frenchman Hugo Gaston and is still in the race. He was so excited that he hugged everyone, including his father Pedro, after the huge win. This Thursday he will face another left-hander, the British Jack Draper.
Facundo Díaz Acosta’s triumph over Frenchman Hugo Gaston: his first victory in Grand Slam tournamentsCourtesy of Dino García
It was a sensational match for the Argentine, who had absolute control of the show. His numbers confirm this: 3 aces, 76% of points won with the first serve, 19 winners and 19 unforced errors.
After four attempts, he was able to break the curse, winning for the first time in a Grand Slam. Last season he had lost in his debuts at Roland Garros (against Jason Kubler) and US Open (against John Isner). This year, history repeated itself in the early stages of Melbourne and Wimbledon, falling to Taylor Fritz y Cameron Norrie. Everything changed one afternoon in August 2024. An afternoon he will never forget.
Facundo Diaz Acosta defeated Hugo Gaston Capture
Last May, he suffered a hard blow. In a dream season, in which he won his first ATP title, no less than in Buenos Aires, Díaz Acosta came up against an obstacle that prevented him from performing at Roland Garros or the Olympicssince by being absent from the Bois de Boulogne he was unable to add points to the ranking that would allow him to be among the best four Argentine singles players and qualify for Paris 2024. He was unable to recover from a clavicular bone edema and had to confirm his absence from the major French: Now, everything is joy.
Instead, Nadia Podoroska She said goodbye with a tough defeat against Russian Diana Shnaider by 6-0 and 6-1, in just 51 minutes. Shnaider, ranked 18th, captured the five chances she had on Podoroska’s serve, and the Rosario native missed the four break points available. Podoroska only won three points with her second serve.
Wednesday’s program
Francisco Cerúndolo (29°) y Thomas Martin Etcheverry They will face each other from noon in the first round of the day, on court 12, for a place in the third round. In the other matches with Argentine representatives, Sebastian Baez (21°) will face Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor (40°) in the second match on court 13, and Francisco Comesaña (108°) will have a strong challenge against Frenchman Ugo Humbert (17°) in the third duel on court 7.
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