Diego Schwartzman beat Nuno Borges and advanced to the third round of Roland Garros

Diego Schwartzman advanced to the third round of Roland Garros after beating the Portuguese Nuno Borges 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-3. He smallranked 95th in the ATP world ranking, beat Borges in straight sets (80th) after two hours and 33 minutes of play on court number 9. The 30-year-old Argentine will play his next match against a top ten: the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (5th), who previously beat the Spanish Roberto Carballés Baena (57) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and 6-2.

It is the first time that the porteño formed in Náutico Hacoaj has won two consecutive matches in the year and it is his seventh victory in 2023. Without a doubt, the victory over the Spanish Bernabé Zapata Miralles in the debut, after having lost the first two sets, It meant a great boost of spirits for his excursion in the Parisian dust. He arrived at the French Open at the limit of the top hundred (95th) and with the challenge of defending valuable 180 points for last year’s round of 16. At times he seemed to be close to giving up in the first round and the consequence in the ranking would have been cruel and forceful, since he would have fallen to 120 °, approximately. However, Schwartzman not only overcame that first fence, but now he went one step further, after a difficult first set that was resolved with a tie break in his favor.

The Argentine’s triumph crystallized after 2 hours and 32 minutes; although Borges managed more game-winners (34 vs. 23) but, at the same time, more than double the number of unforced errors (52 vs. 25). El Peque made 50% of the breaks available to him (6 of 12) and did not get aces, against 5 for the Portuguese.

After his initial triumph, Schwartzman had described his state of affairs on the ATP circuit and how uphill everything had been for him in recent times, with the disappointment of a losing streak in the first round. “What’s happening to me? Don’t know. We tried different ways, even within my team. I always did things one way, I still do them the same way and I did it in a very good mood, but it doesn’t work out. Also, to be honest, I’m a little tired. It costs me a little more every day and also the competition.

Now, Schwartzman is aware that the next challenge is extremely demanding: he will face Tsitsipas, a candidate for the title and with whom he has an unfavorable 3-2 record. “I’m very happy. The match took place as expected and I had the rhythm that I had been missing so I was able to dominate the important points”, confessed the small after his victory over Borges. Prior to Schwartzman’s triumph, on court number 13, Rosario Nadia Podoroska (101st) said goodbye to Roland Garros after losing to the Czech Karolina Muchova (42nd) 6-3, 0-6, 6-3.

In other results of the day, the Italian Fabio Fognini (130th) beat the Australian Jason Kubler (69th) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) and 6-2 and the Austrian Sebastián Ofner (118) against American Sebastián Korda (30) 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) and 6-4. In the women’s draw, the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (192) beat the Australian Storm Hunter (204) 2-6, 6-3 and 6-1; the Belgian Elise Mertens (28) to the Colombian Camila Osorio (86) by 6-3 and 7-6 (7-3); the American Peyton Stearns (69) to the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (17) by 6-3, 1-6 and 6-2; the American Jessica Pagula (3) to the Italian Camila Giorgi (37) by 6-2 and retirement, and the Russian Anastasia Potapova (25) to the Egyptian Mayer Sheriff (54) by 3-6, 6-4 and 6-1 .

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