Schwartzman Rallies; Munar Pulls Off Upset In Cordoba

Diego Schwartzman delighted the home crowd on Thursday at the Cordoba Open by reaching his second quarter-final of the season.

The third-seeded Argentine came back from a set down to beat Italian qualifier Alessandro Giannessi 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0. Schwartzman converted only two of his 11 break points in the opening set, but locked in during the second and third (4/9).

The Buenos Aires native is going for his third title (Rio de Janeiro 2018, Istanbul 2016; both on clay) at the inaugural event. He will meet eighth-seeded countryman Guido Pella for a place in the semi-finals.

Pella won 72 per cent of his first-serve points and swept Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 7-6(4). The Argentine recovered after seeing his first two match points come and go, including one as Ramos-Vinolas served at 4-5, 30/40.

In another Argentina-Spain matchup, home favourite Federico Delbonis beat 2018 Quito Open champion Roberto Carballes Baena 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2. Delbonis next faces Spain’s Jaume Munar, who upset second seed Marco Cecchinato of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

The 21-year-old, who made the semi-finals of the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals, won all three break points he faced against the 2018 Roland Garros semi-finalist.

Two other seeds also didn’t make it out of the second round. Top seed Fabio Fognini lost 6-1, 6-4 to Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene, who will meet wild card Pablo Cuevas in the quarter-finals. The six-time ATP Tour titlist beat sixth seed Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 7-6(5), 6-2.