At the US Open, Diego Schwartzman said goodbye to Frances Tiafoe and there are no longer any Argentines in the singles draw: “I was left for details”
NEW YORK.- Eight Argentines participated in the men’s main draw of the US Open. But the sixth day of the last Grand Slam tournament of the year left the competition without national rackets. The last to leave is the porteño Diego Schwartzmannseeded 14th, who lost 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 6-4, in 3h3m, against the American Frances Tiafoe (22nd), in the third round. Rafael Nadal or Richard Gasquet will be the North American’s next rival. In his ninth consecutive performance at the US Open and having reached the quarterfinals twice (2017 and 2019), El Peque had higher expectations about the New York cement, although his current situation was not the best. He overcame the first challenge in the tournament with some success (after winning the first two sets, Jack Sock suffered a lower back injury and retired after the third set) and improved his performance in the second round, against Alexei Popyrin (Australia). But he couldn’t get past Tiafoe, a powerful opponent whom he had beaten in two of the three matches on record.Diego Schwartzman, eliminated in the third round of the US OpenANGELA WEISS – AFPSchwartzman had several opportunities to distance himself from Tiafoe, but he was unable to take advantage of them against an opponent who struck at key moments and served better. In the first set, for example, the player coached by Juan Ignacio Chela had five set points (two in the tenth game, serving 5-4, and three in the tie-break). And then he started the second set with a 2-0 lead, but he didn’t hang on either.“The first set was amazing. In the second set I had a break up. In the third set I also had chances to be up. Today the level, unlike the other games, was. I played a very high level from the back of the pitch, I failed to be effective on the chances I had. I evaluate this tour on cement as good, because after Roland Garros, the tour on grass and those two tournaments on clay that I had played had not been good and I had not played well”, stated Schwartzman.
The match summary
Tiafoe broke Schwartzman’s serve eight times. Likewise, El Peque managed three aces, committed five double faults, achieved 69% of first serves, won 53% of points with the first serve and just 39% with the second. He had 33 game-winning shots (to Tiafoe’s 45) and had 37 unforced errors. Numbers that plot his performance against a powerful and athletically very capable rival but who usually has certain emotional gaps that provide opportunities.
Diego Schwartzman lost to Frances Tiafoe at the US OpenAndres Kudacki – FRE“Both of them were successful at different times. The first set was unbelievable, because there were several of those set points where my shots were really good and they went for nothing. There are times when you hit the ball badly and still you win the point; I would have put a set on top. He got the best tennis out of him when he was down in the first set. He was superior there. I was very excited throughout the game because I felt that the level was there. If I do a review I would love to have a stronger serve at times and have more free points. But later, if I look at how I hit the forehand, the backhand…, I did very well. But sometimes the serve is an important weapon, we both break many times. I feel that the level of the game was very high. He left me for details, ”added the Argentine. After reaching the round of 16 at Roland Garros, Schwartzman lowered his performance. He had a quick run through the grass-court tour (three losses and only one win in three tournaments), and failed to recover on the clay of Bastad and Hamburg. Then, on the North American hard court tour, he fell in the second round in Montreal and in the round of 16 in Cincinnati.
A point disputed by Tiafoe and Schwartzman
The next challenge, the Davis Cup
After saying goodbye to New York, Schwartzman will focus on the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals in two weeks in Bologna. What expectations does he have? He made an analysis: “We have a very competitive team. for Fran [Cerúndolo] and for Sheba [Báez] It’s a surface I don’t know if they played on. Seba did it in Turin (at the New Generation Masters, last year) and then he didn’t play again. That takes a little time to adapt and the rivals that we are going to have have been there for 150 games. On that side we do not run with an advantage, because Fran and Seba need that adaptation.” “On top of that – continued Peque – we played against rivals [Italia, Croacia y Suecia] against which you can spend a long time without touching the ball. Berrettini, Sinner and Cilic have a very aggressive way of playing. Coric, if he plays, he has ways of playing that don’t let you get a lot of rhythm. We’ll see the speed of the court. But we will be competitive. The favorite is Italy. Then, between Croatia and us, we will fight for second place in the standings, if Sweden can be beaten. The Davis Cup is always another matter and there are surprises”.
