Carlos Taberner put a swift end to Francisco Cerundolo’s title defence at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag with a thrilling comeback on Wednesday evening.
The No. 111 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Taberner withstood a big-hitting performance from the top-seeded Cerundolo to triumph 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-5. Cerundolo hit 50 winners but failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the decider before Taberner roared back to claim his first win over a Top-20 opponent.
Next level unlocked 🔓
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 23, 2025
Carlos Taberner stuns the defending champion Cerundolo and records his first Top 20 win! @CroatiaOpenUmag | #CroatiaOpen pic.twitter.com/7vrxVcnenJ
“I’m so happy with my victory today, it was an unbelievable battle,” said Taberner. “I lost a really tight first set… I was a little bit tired but I tried to give my 100 per cent and I won. I’m so happy. With all my adrenaline and my recovery, I think I’m going to be good for tomorrow.”
With his three-hour and 20-minute victory over Cerundolo, which featured nine breaks of serve in the deciding set, Taberner is into his second ATP Tour quarter-final four years after reaching his first in Nur-Sultan in 2021. The 27-year-old Spaniard will meet in-form Jesper de Jong for a spot in the last four in Umag.
De Jong, who reached his first tour-level final in Bastad last week, defeated fifth seed Mariano Navone 6-3, 6-4 in their first Lexus ATP Head2Head clash.
Luciano Darderi, who defeated De Jong in the Bastad final, delivered a lights-out display in his Umag opener. The second-seeded Italian saved each of the two break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in his 7-5, 6-0 win over Chun-Hsin Tseng.
After extending his winning streak to six matches, Darderi will meet Croatian wild card Dino Prizmic. The 19-year-old, who is fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, rallied past Nikoloz Basilashvili 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
