The Argentine Davis Cup team is set to take on its Turkish counterpart on Saturday and Sunday, with a place at next year’s Qualifiers at stake. The series will be hosted at the Ruca Che stadium in Neuquén.
Argentina aims to defend its status among the Davis Cup elite, after losing 3-2 to South Korea in the first round of the 2026 Davis Cup Qualifiers, held in February in Busan.
The Davis Cup format has teams competing to climb the ladder into the end-of-year finals twice a year, with losers from the February window taking on winners from the series below in September. A win for Argentina means a return to the Qualifiers stage, while a loss will force them to defend a World Group I team status next February.
Cerúndolo looking forward to a loud stadium
Team captain Javier Frana confirmed Francisco Cerúndolo, Thiago Tirante, Mariano Navone, Guido Andreozzi, and Andrés Molteni as the players to take on Türkiye.
Leading singles player Cerúndolo is undoubtedly the star of the lot. The 28-year-old was coming off a rough patch of form, having won a single match since claiming his second title of the season at the Queen’s ATP 500 tournament in June.
He picked up the slack at the US Open, where he reached the round of 16 to complete his best-ever performance at the last major of the year and became the world No. 23.
Cerúndolo weighed in on the importance of Argentina hosting the series, insisting it will be a key factor.
“The Ruca Che [stadium] looks great, it feels tight with the stands close by. I think that’ll be good, you’ll be able to really feel the support of all those fans,” he said during the press conference ahead of the series.
He went on to thank the fans who sold out the venue and said the team will “give it their all to reward them” for it.
Tirante weighs in on Korea defeat meaning
Second singles player Tirante (52) had perhaps the opposite arc to Cerúndolo, arriving at the US Open on the back of reaching the round of 16 and quarterfinal at the Toronto and Cincinnati Masters 1000 respectively — with a win over 24-time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic included — but fell in the first round to France’s Adrian Mannarino.
Regardless, the 25-year-old credited the series at Busan — in which he debuted as a Davis Cup player for Argentina — as one of the moments that helped him mature in his career.
“I got to take a lot of positives despite the defeat,” he said during the press conference. “It made me grow up a lot as a person and a player; I started taking a lot more responsibility.”
Tirante said that representing his country made him “enjoy tough moments more” and “take a different outlook on life and on tennis.”
“You have to look at how privileged you are for playing at that level. Sometimes you need a moment to touch your soul, your heart [to figure it out], and that was it for me,” he added.
Navone (45) was another who made history in New York, becoming the first Argentine to beat Djokovic at a tennis major since 2005, ousting the Serb in the first round. He went on to fall to countryman Tomás Etcheverry in the third round, but still completed his best outing in the last major of the season.
Doubles stars ready
Doubles duties in the series will be taken over by Andrés Molteni and Guido Andreozzi. While the duo doesn’t regularly play together on the ATP Tour, they played 21 matches as a pair on the professional circuit, posting a 16-5 record for a 76% win rate.
Together, they claimed three ATP Challenger Tour titles across eight appearances: Caltanissetta in 2016, and Szczecin and Buenos Aires, both in 2019.
“[Molteni] and I go a long way back,” said Andreozzi in the press conference. “It might take a while to understand each other perfectly on the court, but we’re good friends so we’ll get there with training.”
The Buenos Aires City player is enjoying the best season of his career in 2026. Alongside France’s Manuel Guinard, he won the Indian Wells Masters 1000 title, reached the final of the Madrid Masters 1000, and reached a career-high 15th in the ATP doubles rankings.
Molteni currently sits 61st in the ranking, fresh off reaching the US Open round of 16 alongside usual doubles partner Máximo González.
He praised the state of the Ruca Che Stadium, calling a court “great and easy to adapt to.”
Turkish underdogs
Türkiye arrives at the series as the clear underdog, not just because of playing away, but also fielding a team of players ranked well below the Argentine stars.
The top-ranked and leading singles player is Mert Alkaya, currently the 296th in the ATP singles ranking. The 26-year-old is going through the best patch of his career, having recently reached the quarterfinals in ATP Challenger Tour-level tournaments like Astana and Segovia.
He’s joined by world No. 329 Yanki Erel, who’ll be the second singles player, while Arda Azkara (205th doubles ranked) and Tuncay Duran (493) will feature in the doubles. 17-year-old Kaan Isik Kosaner completes the team.
How to watch Argentina playing vs Türkiye
The series will consist of two singles games on Saturday, with the doubles and two extra singles matches on Sunday.
If the series is settled after the doubles game (i.e. if a team wins all games to take a 3-0 lead), the set of extra singles will only be played if team captains agree to it.
Cerúndolo will open up action taking on Erel at 12 p.m. Argentina time. Shortly after that match is over, Tirante will take on Alkaya.
Doubles with Molteni and Andreozzi facing off Azkara and Duran will start at 11 a.m. on Sunday, with Cerúndolo taking on Alkaya and Tirante going off against Erel after that, if required or agreed to.
The series will be broadcast live on sports cable TV channels TyC Sports and DSports, and can also be streamed via their respective digital TyC Sports Play and DGO.