Francisco Cerundolo of Buenos Aires, Argentina won the 2026 Queen’s Club Championship. On Sunday, Cerundolo, the seventh seed, defeated the eighth seed, Tommy Paul of the United States, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Cerundolo was one of two ATP players this past weekend to win an ATP 500 Masters Series event. The other was American Frances Tiafoe of Hyattsville, Maryland who won the Halle Open.
At the Queen’s Club on Sunday, Cerundolo broke Paul four times in 12 opportunities. Statistically, the match was extremely even. Cerundolo won 116 points and Paul won 115 points.
Paul was one of four Americans that Cerundolo defeated at Queen’s. He also beat Aleksander Kovacevic of New York City, New York 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 in the first round, Jenson Brooksby of Sacramento, California, 6-0, 6-4 in the second round, and Brandon Nakashima of San Diego, California, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals.
It is interesting that Cerundolo never faced a player in the tournament at Queen’s seeded higher than he was. Australia’s own Alex de Minaur was the number one seed, but lost 7-5, 6-3 to Nakashima in the quarterfinals. Cerundolo is the first Argentinian to ever win Queen’s.
This was Cerundolo’s fifth ATP title. He previously won the 2022 Swedish Open, the 2023 Eastbourne Invitational, the 2024 Croatian Open and the 2026 Argentina Open. This was Cerundolo’s first title at the ATP 500 level, as his other four wins were at the ATP 250 level. Interestingly, Cerundolo also beat Paul in the 2023 Eastbourne Invitational final, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
