The Argentine Diego Schwartzman said goodbye this Saturday in the third round of the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the year, losing to the American Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 6-4 at the Louis Stadium Armstrong, second in importance of the New York complex.
After fighting for three hours and two minutes as a visitor, the “Little One” said goodbye in the same round of 2018, unable to match last year’s round of 16 and even further from his best performances, the quarterfinals of 2017 and 2019. The Argentine did not take advantage of his moment in the first set, when he served 5-2 and then 5-4 to close the set. And he also didn’t convert any of the five set points he had, three of them in the tie break, when he served 6-3.
The Argentine, number 16 in the ATP ranking, completed the grid of major tournaments this season with the round of 16 at Roland Garros as the best record, followed by this third round in the United States and further back by the R2 in Australia and Wimbledon.
So far this year, the tennis player from Buenos Aires won 31 games, lost 20, did not win titles and presented a couple of finals (Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro) and semis (Córdoba and Barcelona) as the best results.
Schwartzman, who came in as the 14th seed, was the last Argentinian tennis player standing after his wins over American Jack Sock by forfeit in the first round and Australian Alexei Popyrin in three sets in the second.
His next challenge will be the Davis Cup with the Argentine team to face group A of the Finals with Italy, Croatia and Sweden, from September 13 to 18 in Bologna.
Tiafoe, 22nd favorite in the Grand Slam of his country, advanced to the second week waiting for his next rival in the round of 16, who will come out of the duel of 36-year-old veterans between the top winner of “majors”, the Spanish Rafael Nadal, and Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
The Mallorcan, second singles player in this year’s edition, is looking for his fifth title in New York (2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019) to stretch his record of 22 Grand Slam crowns.