2020 ATP Barcelona Open fantasy tennis: Schwartzman takes out Zverev in Round of 16 upset
ARGENTINIAN Diego Schwartzman has claimed a huge scalp in the 2020 ATP Barcelona Open fantasy tennis tournament with a hard-fought win over seventh seed German, Alexander Zverev. The 11th seed joined top seed Novak Djokovic, sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, and 13th seed Andrey Rublev in the last eight after the trio also won through on day five of the ATP 1000 Masters tournament.
Schwartzman had the toughest match on his hands, taking two hours and 42 minutes to win against a determined Zverev. The Argentinian is naturally proficient on the clay courts, but Zverev is just as potent with the pair trading blows for the majority of the match. Eventually Schwartzman came back from a disappointing patch in the second set to win in a third set tiebreaker, 6-4 3-6 7-6.
The Argentinian now takes on world number one, Djokovic in the quarter finals after the Serbian dismissed another incredibly talented clay courter in 16th seed Chilean, Cristian Garin 7-5 6-1. En route to another final, Djokovic sits as second favourite in the standings, though he will likely have sixth seed Tsitsipas in his way.
The Greek up and comer was able to win fairly well against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, booking his spot in the last eight courtesy of a 6-2 6-4 victory. Tsitsipas now takes on the other winner in Rublev after the 13th seed Russian took out Italian, Fabio Fognini. The former top 10 player has been out of form lately after failing to defend his Monte Carlo title, and his run of disappointing results continued in the 6-4 6-4 loss to Rublev.
The quarter finals begin tomorrow with tournament favourite Rafael Nadal taking on Andy Murray in a blockbuster opening match of the day, followed by third seed Dominic Thiem clashing with Kei Nishikori. In the night session, Tsitsipas goes head-to-head with Rublev, before Djokovic and Schwartzman take centre stage.
ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:
[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated [16] Cristian Garin (CHI) 7-5 6-1
[6] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) defeated Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 6-2 6-4
[11] Diego Schwartzman (ARG) defeated [7] Alexander Zverev (GER) 6-4 3-6 7-6
[13] Andrey Rublev (RUS) defeated Fabio Fognini (ITA) 6-4 6-4
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