ATP Los Cabos: Diego Schwartzman downs Taylor Fritz for ATP title no. 3
After Ivo Karlovic, Sam Querrey and Fabio Fognini, the fourth Abierto de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex in Los Cabos welcomed its four champion, Diego Schwartzman. The Argentine defeated an in-form American Taylor Fritz 7-6, 6-3 in an hour and 42 minutes for the third ATP crown and the first on hard court, losing finals in Antwerp in 2016 and 2017 before heading all the way here in Los Cabos, overcoming the challenging first set and sealing the deal with two breaks in set number two. Taylor had only five aces and lost 45% of the points behind the initial shot, having to work harder from the baseline than in the previous rounds and wasting many opportunities in the opener that took the momentum away from him, staying on one title in 2019 earned in Eastbourne in June.
The American broke first in the fourth game of the match when Schwartzman sent a backhand long, holding at 15 with a service winner in the next game to move 4-1 in front. Diego bounced back with a break at 15 in game seven, forcing an error from Fritz and settling into a nice rhythm in those moments. Taylor repelled two break points at 5-5 to stay on the positive side of the scoreboard and had a massive opportunity to close the set on the return in the next game, creating three set points.
Diego stayed calm to save them all and reach the tie break where he opened a 6-3 lead. It was Fritz's time to show his skills when it mattered the most, climbing back to 6-6 before hitting a double fault and a backhand error to hand the breaker to Schwartzman 8-6 after an hour. Frustrated after a loose forehand, Taylor received a point penalty in the fourth game of the second set to suffer a break, making one last push to pull it back at 2-4 and losing serve again a few minutes later to send the Argentine 5-3 up. Serving for the title, Diego held at 30 in game nine to wrap up a perfect week and lift the third ATP trophy, the first since Rio de Janeiro in 2018.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2M186c0
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