Argentine Diego Schwartzman advanced to the second round of the Masters 1000 in Montreal on Tuesday after beating the Spanish 1-6, 6-3 and 6-4 with much suffering. Alejandro Davidovich in a match as exciting as it was close.
Davidovich and Schwartzman were reunited on court 24 hours after their match was rained out and gave fans the best match of the day in Montreal and one of the best so far in the tournament. The Spanish tennis player began to dominate, winning the first set by a resounding 6-1 that made one think that the duel could be resolved on the fast track.
But Schwartzman’s reaction was fantastic, at times reminiscent of his best version of 2020, when he broke into the world ‘Top 10’ and reached the semi-finals in Paris. The Argentine came from behind, won the second set 6-3 and the third 6-4, the latter especially meritorious after losing 0-3 and having Davidovich just one point behind in the fourth game.
Schwartzman made five straight games, and despite having trouble closing out the match, he made it to the second round after two hours and 25 minutes of play.
His next rival will be another Spaniard, Albert Ramos-Viñolas, who beat Belgian David Goffin, displaying good tennis and taking advantage of his rival’s service problems. He won in two sets (7-6 and 6-2) for Mataró. Pablo Carreño also advances after defeating Italian Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 16 minutes. He was intractable on his serve and did not concede any break balls against the world number 14.
The Spaniard will face Danish Holger Rune in the second round, who won in two sets (6-3 and 7-5) against Italian Fognini. The young Dane, only 19 years old, managed to reach the quarterfinals at the last Roland Garros and aspires to do so in Canada with the US Open on the horizon. Pedro Martínez could not beat a Gael Monfils who did not show any lack of activity, it was the Frenchman’s first game since May, having missed, among others, Roland Garros and Wimbledon due to a foot injury.
The number 17 in the ranking won in three sets (7-6, 3-6 and 6-2) and will play against the American Maxime Cressy in the second round. After the first two days of competition in Montreal, Spanish tennis will have a total of four representatives in the second round after the triumphs of Albert Ramos-Viñolas and Pablo Carreño, who join Carlos Alcaraz and Roberto Bautista.
Carlos Alcaraz already knows his rival to debut in Montreal, it will be the first time he faces the American Tommy Paul, who beat Canadian Vasek Pospisil in a double 6-4.
He is currently number 34 in the ranking and this year he has already been able to defeat tennis players like Berrettini and Zverev.
It was not a good day for Argentine tennis, which despite Schwartzman’s victory, saw Francisco Cerúndolo and Sebastián Baez lose respectively to the Russian Karen Khachanov and the Australian Nick Kyrgios. The latter is still sweet after having been proclaimed champion in Washington in both the singles and doubles, and this Wednesday faces a very attractive clash in the second round against number one, the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
Taylor Fritz once again demonstrated the good moment he is going through and did not give options to Andy Murray who arrived in Montreal with a wild card and said goodbye at the first change. The Scotsman and former world number one could not hide his frustration and hit his racket on the ground several times. Two sets were enough to resolve the match in one hour and twenty-seven minutes, and Fritz’s class, as well as his admiration for the rival in front of him, were demonstrated at the close when he paid tribute to his opponent with a few words into the microphone: “He’s a honor to share the court with Andy, just to have the opportunity to play with him. He has been dominating since before I entered the ATP circuit.”
The Dutchman Van de Zandschulp, the British Cameron Norrie and Daniel Evans, the Croatian Marin Cilic, the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka and the American Frances Tiafoe.
Tuesday’s day in Montreal closed with a match belonging to the second round, which culminated in the victory of the Pole Hubert Hurkacz against the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori in three sets (6-3, 6-7 and 6-2).
His rival in the round of 32 will speak Spanish and will come from the cross between Albert Ramos-Viñolas and Diego Schwartzman.