Diego Schwartzman might not get out of the very bad moment he has been going through since the middle of last year and was eliminated from the Argentina Open on the night of his debut, when he fell without offering much resistance once morest the Spanish Bernabé Zapata Miralles 6-1, 6-3 in the match that completed the round of 16.
The “Little” Schwartzman, ranked 32nd in the ATP world ranking, was easy prey for the Valencian Zapata Miralles (74) and said goodbye to the tournament following one hour and 17 minutes of play, in the match that closed the day in the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.
The 30-year-old Argentine has lost 12 of the last 13 games he has played in the last six months and next week will continue his precipitous slide in the ranking, dropping to 38th place following being 16th in the world until August 2022.
Schwartzman, champion in Buenos Aires in 2021 and a two-time finalist, in 2019 and 2022, played without confidence from the start of the game and found himself with a rival who returned everything and who will meet an Argentine tennis player once more this Friday, when he faces for the quarterfinals to Francisco Cerúndolo.
The Spaniard broke “Little”‘s service three times in the first set that he took 6-1 in 34 minutes, and maintained his dominance in the second despite the fact that the public tried to distract him with permanent encouragement to see if a match would come. reaction, something that did not occur.
Zapata Miralles, who had beaten his compatriot Pedro Martínez (73) in the opening round, continued to dominate at will in the second set and it was not surprising that he broke Schwartzman’s serve once more two more times to lead 1-0 and 3-0 and leave the game almost resolved, something that he later achieved 6-3.
Schwartzman surrendered almost without offering any resistance and left the field with his head down, confused by a present that he cannot decipher, and aware that he had lost to an enthusiastic rival who only ran and put the ball into play, the rest was yours with an unusual amount of errors.
The 26-year-old Spaniard will be this Friday the rival of “Fran” Cerúndolo, the current number one in national tennis who previously settled in the quarterfinals following overwhelming the Mallorcan Jaume Munar 6-2 and 6-1.
Cerúndolo (30) exhibited a superlative level and eliminated Munar (67) following one hour and 11 minutes of play.
“Fran”, 23 years old and champion last year in Bastad, Sweden, played his best game of the year and overwhelmed the Spaniard, who was not even remotely the one who had beaten Guido Pella (723) from Bahia last Monday.
Cerúndolo played an excellent first set, with a deep and heavy forehand he overwhelmed the Spaniard on all sides and took the first lead with a break to lead 3-2, then he returned to seize Munar’s serve and stretched to 5-2 to close the match. partial by 6-2.
Munar, who had just suffered great physical wear in his previous match once morest Pella, requested medical attention twice in the opening set for muscle discomfort, but he continued to compete anyway.
In the second set, Cerúndolo continued to punish with his forehand and comfortably won his service game, once morest an opponent who might not contain him, so he broke two more times to go up 4-0 and leave victory within reach.
Munar tried to react and that’s where another virtue of the Argentine emerged, which was patience to better select his shots and not risk more than he should.
Cerúndolo adjusted the return and broke Munar three times, to go ahead 1-0, 3-0 and finally the 6-1 that decorated the score, despite the fact that it was difficult for him to define it and he only achieved it with the fifth match point he had, to celebrate it at length with the public that did not stop encouraging him at any time.
The others who advanced to the quarterfinals were the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas (101), and the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (20), the third seed of the tournament.
Varillas (101) eliminated the Austrian Dominic Thiem (99), two-time champion in Buenos Aires and winner of the US Open in 2020, following beating him 6-4, 6-4 following one hour and 47 minutes of play in the match that inaugurated the rainy and cool day in the property located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo.
Varillas, who entered the main draw of the Argentina Open following qualifying, wore seamless tennis and left a pleasant impression, which he will try to confirm this Friday once morest Musetti.
Musetti (20), took Pedro Cachín (68) from Cordoba out of the tournament following beating him 6-2, 6-3 in an intense match that lasted one hour and 22 minutes.
The Italian tennis player born 20 years ago in the city of Carrara, in the Tuscany region, generated a lot of expectations in the public and lived up to it, since he walked through “The Cathedral” of Argentine tennis his offensive game, with a delicious backhand with one hand, which he hits many times with a slice, and the speed with which he fires the ball with his forehand, his salient points.
Musetti’s victory over Cachín was not surprising, since he marked many differences with the acceleration of his blows and made it clear that he is a candidate for the title, only below the Spanish “top ten” Carlos Alcaraz (2), with whom he might meet in the final on sunday.