At the 2023 ATP Buenos Aires Open's second round on Friday, fourth seed Diego Schwartzman will take on Spain's Bernabe Zapata Miralles in an effort to win on red clay for the first time.
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During this Golden Swing, Bernanbe Zapata Miralles is putting out a strong argument. Even though it’s only February, he has participated in some of the longest and most severe best-of-three matches in 2023. Last week in Cordoba, the Spaniard battled back from a set and a half down in the decider to defeat Carballes Baena in three sets. The match lasted nearly three and a half hours. In Buenos Aires, he continued the trend of going the full distance, defeating Pedro Martinez in an all-Spanish contest in a wild encounter that lasted two hours and forty minutes. In a contest that included an astounding 18 service breaks, Zapata Miralles prevailed 6-1 3-6 6-4. Most of the time, both players’ serves were a complete disaster, with Martinez recording 11 double faults and winning 36% of the points on his second serve.
The season’s slow start for Diego Schwartzman has cost him. He dropped out of the top 30 in the world, and his younger countryman Francisco Cerundolo has replaced him as Argentina’s new No. 1 player. Going into this week’s contest in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Schwartzman has played in 11 matches with just one victory. At the Australian Open this year, he broke that winless run by defeating world No. 169 Oleksii Krutykh in the opening round. As the top seed, he was defeated by Juan Manuel Cerundolo, ranked 105th in the world, in the Round of 16 in Cordoba. After the game, Schwartzman would acknowledge that his father’s health—who had been admitted to the hospital for three weeks due to illness—had been weighing hard on him. He also attributed it to his inability to adapt on the clay despite scheduling numerous practise sessions throughout the day to improve his ball control. We’ll see if the 30-year-old former champion of Buenos Aires can rediscover his spark this week.
| Diego Schwartzman vs Bernabe Zapata Miralles | Match details |
|---|---|
| Date | February 17, 2023 |
| Surface | Clay |
| Tournament | Argentina Open |
| Stage | Round of 16 |
| Time (India) | 04:30 am |
| Time (Argentina) | 08:00 pm |
| Opponent | Score |
|---|---|
| Juan Cerundolo | 6-7, 1-6 (L) |
| JJ Wolf | 1-6, 4-6, 4-6 (L) |
| Oleksii | 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 (W) |
| Jenson Brooksby | 1-6 (Walkover) (L) |
| Maxime Cressy | 3-6, 3-6 (L) |
| Opponent | Score |
|---|---|
| Pedro Martinez | 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 (W) |
| Marcelo Tomas | 7-5, 4-6, 3-6 (L) |
| Roberto Baena | 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 (W) |
| Karen Khachanov | 6-7, 2-6, 0-6 (L) |
| John Millman | 2-6, 2-6 (L) |
0-0. The encounter between Diego Schwartzman and Bernanbe Zapata Miralles of Spain will be their first of their careers.
Diego Schwartzman and Bernabe Zapata Miralles will take on each other in the round of 16 of the 2023 ATP Argentina Open on February 17.
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