Shanghai [China], October 9 : Argentine Diego Schwartzman rallied from one set down to upset World No. 8 Taylor Fritz 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) and claimed a spot in the Round of 16 at the Shanghai Masters on Monday.
The Argentine wild card has had a subpar season by his standards, finishing the year 9-22. He has, however, performed at a high level at the hard-court competition, following up victories over Jiri Lehecka and Luca Van Assche with a solid comeback performance against Fritz.
In order to score his first Top 10 victory since April of 2022, when he defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime, the World No. 9 at the time, the 31-year-old won 54 per cent (22/41) of the points on Fritz's second serve.
"I think since Roland Garros my tennis was changed. I was winning at least one match in every single tournament. Obviously this is not my year, so that is why at the end of the year to have these kinds of tournaments is great. Not many tournaments to come, but it is going to make a difference," Schwartzman was quoted as saying by ATP.
Adrian Mannarino's eight-match winning streak was snapped by World No.7 Andrey Rublev, who defeated the Frenchman 6-3, 6-0, to advance as well. Rublev secured his place in the fourth round after 63 minutes with 35 wins and just five unforced errors.
With his title run in Monte-Carlo as the season's high point, the fifth seed currently has a 15-6 record at ATP Masters 1000 event.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor