Fran Cerúndolo and Etcheverry struggled to advance and balanced the score on the hard court of the Toronto Masters 1000.

Tomás Etcheverry and Francisco Cerúndolo advanced to the third round of the Toronto Masters 1000, where they will face each other, thanks to victories against tough opponents who forced them to give more.

The La Plata native had failed to make it past the first round in five consecutive tournaments: Mallorca, Wimbledon (both on grass), the Braunschweig Challenger, Gstaad, and Kitzbuhel. That's why he celebrated his strong victory over 24th-seeded Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor on Tuesday, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), in nearly two hours of play.

Cerúndolo, the 14th seed, had to fight for almost three hours against his ups and downs and against the Spaniard Jaume Munar until he managed to beat him 7-6 (7-4), 4-6 and 6-4.

Meanwhile, Juan Pablo Ficovich was eliminated by the Russian Karen Khachanov (11th) by 6-4 and 6-2, while Facundo Bagnis also said goodbye after battling for almost three hours against the Portuguese Nuno Borges (30th), who won by 5-7, 7-6 (7-3) and 6-2.

This Wednesday, there will also be an Argentine presence at the Canadian Masters 1000, as Francisco Comesaña will face off against Australian Alex De Miñaur —recent champion in Washington—in the final round on Grandstand Court.

Except for Griekspoor, who lost his first head-to-head match against Etcheverry, the other seeded players started with victories after being exempted from playing in the initial phase.

Italian Lorenzo Musetti (3rd) and Danish Holger Rune (5th) did their thing against Australian James Duckworth (106th) and Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (43rd), respectively.