Photo: AFP.
The Argentine tennis player Diego Schwartzman maintained the high level that he had shown in his previous performances but this time it was not enough to avoid the elimination of Roland Garros, surpassed in the quarterfinals by the best in history on brick dust, the Spaniard Rafael Nadal , who beat him 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and 6-0.
The Argentine, tenth in the ATP world ranking, maintained his intensity for much of the two hours and 45 minutes The match lasted, although he also fell to Nadal (3), practically invincible in the French Grand Slam, with a collection of 13 titles and a journey of 105 wins and just two losses, intimidating numbers.
The “Peque” Schwartzman, winner in the previous rounds of the Taiwanese Yen Hsun Lu (680), the Slovenian Aljaz Bedene (56) and the Germans Philipp Kohlschreiber (132) and Jan Lennard Struff (42), could not repeat his performance of 2020 when he climbed to the semifinals and also gave in to Nadal, then champion.
The 35-year-old Spaniard confirmed his statistics They highlighted that he never lost after 97 games at Roland Garros after winning the first set, and continuing his way in the semifinals against the winner of the crossing later encouraged by Italian Matteo Berrettini (9) and Serbian Novak Djokovic (1) , finalist in 2020.
The match
Schwartzman, who only beat Nadal once after 12 gamesLast year in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 in Rome, he went out to play with a defined plan and that allowed him to propose a balanced game to the Mallorcan “left-hander”.
Two breaks by “Rafa” (4-2 and 5-3) against one by “Peque” (3-4) was the small difference that defined the first set in favor of the Spaniard.
In the second quarter, “Peque” managed to neutralize Nadal’s best shot, the high and crossed right hand, that allowed him to keep it under control during much of the set that he took 6-4 after breaking his serve in the last point.
The third set was perhaps the most attractive to the 5,000 people who approached the Philippe Chatrier court, the most important at Roland Garros.
Schwartzman played more aggressive than ever and cornered Nadal, but in key moments, he made unforced errors, and he paid it off against an opponent who, cornered, began to show the best of his repertoire and took advantage of two sets to one by prevailing. by a tight 6-4.
Exhausted, the Argentine surrendered in the last set that the Spaniard dominated with his forehand and also did what was proposed with his crossed backhand to solve it by a lapidary 6-0.
Schwartzman participated for the fifth time in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. Photo: AFP.
The “Peque” was close until the third set, Then he could not bear the frenetic pace that Nadal imposes on his matches, although at least he had the pleasure of snatching a set from him, something that his previous rivals, the Australian Alexei Popyrin (63), the French Richard Gasquet (53), had not been able to do. ), the British Cameron Norrie (45) and finally the Italian Jannik Sinner (19).
The Mallorcan, who only lost in the brick dust of Roland Garros in with the Swede Robin Soderling in the 2009 edition and with the Serbian Novak Djokovic in the 2015 edition, will continue on his way in search of a new crown to stretch his reign in Paris.
More about the tournament
The contest that is played in the complex located in the charming Parisian neighborhood of Bois de Boulogne will consecrate this Tuesday its first two semifinalists of the men’s team: the German Alexander Zverev and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Zverev (6) beat Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (46) and Tsitsipas (5) beat Russian Daniil Medvedev (2), who if he won the tournament could have reached number one in the world.
In the women’s draw, Roland Garros will give birth to a new champion this year, since the Polish Iga Swiatek was eliminated.
Swiatek (9) lost to Greek Maria Sakkari (18) 6-4, 6-4, while in the other quarter-final match, Czech Barbora Krejcikova (33) beat American Cori Gauff (25) by 7-6 (8-6) and 6-3.
The other two semifinalists had been defined yesterday: the Slovak Tamara Zidansek (85) after beating the Spanish Paula Badosa (35) by 7-5, 4-6 and 8-6, and the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (32), who beat in a tough match against the Kazakh Elena Rybakina (22) by 6-7 (2-7), 6-2 and 9-7.
While, In the women’s doubles draw, Rosario Nadia Podoroska and Romanian Irina Begu advanced to the semifinals tThey will win over the Croatian Petra Martic and the American Shelby Rogers 6-3, 4-6 and 6-2.
Podoroska and Begu consummated their victory in two hours and 10 minutes of play, and will meet in the semifinals with the pair made up of the American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and the Polish Iga Swiatek.
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