Finals Contender Schwartzman Moves Into Paris Third Round
Diego Schwartzman, who controls his own destiny to clinch the final spot at this month’s Nitto ATP Finals, booked his place in the Rolex Paris Masters third round on Wednesday.
The sixth-seeded Argentine snapped a three-match losing streak against France’s Richard Gasquet with a 7-5, 6-3 victory in 84 minutes. Gasquet had previously been 6-0 in sets against Schwartzman, who next plays Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The Spanish qualifier was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over wild card Benjamin Bonzi of France.
Schwartzman currently sits in the final automatic qualification spot for the Nitto ATP Finals, which will be held at The O2 in London from 15-22 November. If the World No. 9 reaches the Paris semi-finals (among other scenarios), he will qualify for the first time to the season finale.
Schwartzman won the first three games against Gasquet, who began his comeback at 1-4 down and broke in the seventh game of the first set, which turned at 6-5 back in Schwartzman’s favour. Schwartzman again opened up a 3-0 lead in the second set and this time held his nerve.
The 28-year-old now has a 24-11 match record on the season, which includes runner-up finishes at the Cordoba Open (l. to Garin), the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (l. to Djokovic) and the bett1HULKS Championship in Cologne (l. to Zverev).
[WATCH LIVE 1]Elsewhere, third-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev was leading 5/2 in the first-set tie-break when Kevin Anderson of South Africa retired with a right leg injury. Anderson had beaten Medvedev 6-4, 7-6(5) in last week’s Erste Bank Open quarter-finals in Vienna.
Medvedev awaits the winner of Australian No. 16 seed Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Sonego of Italy.