Diego Schwartzman to Face Novak Djokovic in First Group Stage Match at Maiden ATP Finals

Posted on November 15, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Diego Schwartzman is preparing for the big dance…

The 28-year-old Argentine professional tennis player, who clinched the final spot at the prestigious season-ending ATP Finals, will play ATP Tour World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in his first group stage match.

Schwartzman, competing in his first-ever ATP Finals, will be the first Argentine player to compete at the tournament since Juan Martin del Potro in 2013.

Schwartzman is the eighth singles player from Argentina to feature in the 50-year history of the tournament, following in the footsteps of 1974 titlist Guillermo Vilas (1974-77, ’79-82), Jose-Luis Clerc (1980-83), Guillermo Coria (2003-05), 2005 champion David Nalbandian (2003, ’05-06), Gaston Gaudio (2004-05), Mariano Puerta (2005) and 2009 runner-up del Potro (2008-09, ’12-13).

Schwartzman joins fellow debutant Andrey Rublev of Russia, alongside former qualifiers Djokovic of Serbia, Spain’s Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem of Austria, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the 2020 singles field.

There will be four players aged 24 and under at the ATP Finals for the second straight year. The last time this happened in back-to-back years was in 2008-09.

Schwartzman broke into the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the first time at No. 8 on 12 October after a run to his first Grand Slam championship semi-final at Roland Garros (l. to Nadal). A few weeks earlier, the Buenos Aires resident beat Nadal en route to his first ATP Masters 1000 final at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (l. to Djokovic).

As the first Argentine in the Top 10 since del Potro in May 2019, Schwartzman also finished runner-up at two ATP 250 events in a reduced 2020 season — at the Cordoba Open (l. to Garin) in February and at the bett1HULKS Championship runner-up in Cologne (l. to Zverev) in October.

At 5’7”, Schwartzman is the shortest player in the Top 10 since 5’6″ Harold Solomon, whose last week in the Top 10 began on 27 July 1981.

Nadal Makes History with 10th Title at the Monte Carlo Masters

Posted on April 24, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a perfect and historic 10 for Rafael Nadal…

The 30-year-old Spanish tennis star easily defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-3 in an all-Spanish final at the Monte Carlo Masters to become the first men’s tennis player in the Open era to win the same title 10 times.

Nadal, who showed Sunday he’s likely the best ever on clay, won his 50th career title on his favored surface, moving him one clear of Argentine Guillermo Vilas.

The next big challenge for Nadal will be winning a 10th French Open title. The last of his 14 Grand Slams was three years ago in Roland Garros.

“I want,” Nadal said after Sunday’s game, a smile breaking across his face. “I really want it, too.”

It was Nadal’s 70th career title but his first of the season, having lost his previous three finals — two of those to Roger Federer.

The only final Nadal has lost at Monte Carlo was to Novak Djokovic in 2013.

“Winning 10 times in such an important event like Monte Carlo is something difficult to describe,” Nadal said. “My serve worked great. I have been hitting very well on backhand during the whole week. The forehand is better and better every day.”

Ramos-Vinolas wasn’t a threat to the defending champion.

Appearing in his first Masters final, the 15th-seeded Ramos-Vinolas saved three break points in his first service game and was 0-40 down in his next. Nadal served out the set in 30 minutes with an ace.

“He was a little bit better in everything. When he’s a little bit better in everything, the difference is what we saw,” Ramos-Vinolas said. “Last time I played against him, I felt that on [his serve] it was my chance to put some pressure. But today I felt that he was serving so good.”

Nadal’s 29th Masters title moves him one behind Djokovic’s record. He will also have his sights set on a 10th title in Barcelona next week — Nadal’s previous career title was there, almost one year ago.

Since then, Federer has beaten him in finals at the Australian Open and the Miami Masters, on either side of Nadal’s loss to big-serving American Sam Querrey in the final at Acapulco, Mexico. Federer also beat Nadal in the fourth round at Indian Wells.

“[This title] arrives in just the right moment, I believe,” Nadal said. “Winning here is an important step forward for me.”

Nadal’s 70 titles are three better than Djokovic, who is a year younger. Nadal is fifth on the all-time list, but seven behind John McEnroe. Further ahead, the 35-year-old Federer has 91; Ivan Lendl 94 and Jimmy Connors is a long way away with 109.

Nadal Defeats Kei Nishikori to Claim Barcelona Open Title

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Nadal is back-to-back tournament champion…

The 29-year-old Spanish tennis star beat defending champion Kei Nishikori 6-4, 7-5 to win the Barcelona Open for the ninth time on Sunday, equaling Guillermo Vilas‘ record of 49 career clay-court titles.

Nadal added this title to his trophy from the Monte Carlo Open last week as the 14-time Grand Slam winner regains form on his favorite surface ahead of next month’s French Open.

Nishikori had won the tournament for the last two years after early exits by Nadal.

In an entertaining clash of the two top-seeded players, Nadal proved more decisive under pressure, saving seven of eight break chances in the first set while converting the two chances he got.

The Spaniard then bettered second-seeded Nishikori through several superb rallies in a back-and-forth second set to win key points and claim his 69th career title in his 101st final.

“I was playing against the No. 6 player in the world, and if you don’t play at your best you aren’t going to win,” Nadal said.

“I served well and that allowed me to play better. In the second set I missed several chances, and at the end it was very close, but I stayed mentally strong.”

After losing to Fabio Fognini in the round of 16 last year, Nadal blamed his poor forehand. A year later, all Nadal’s power was back on display, driving forehand strokes past Nishikori when it really mattered.

Playing near their best, both top-10 players never let the other settle in while serving.

Level at 3-3 in the first set, Nishikori had three break points, but Nadal saved them all by winning five straight points.

Nadal earned a second break to claim the first set when the Spaniard won with a shot which clipped the top of the net.

Nishikori immediately responded by rallying from 0-40 down to break Nadal’s first service game of the second set.

Nadal answered with a hard-fought game — which included two superb rallies won by the home favorite at the net — to recover the break.

Nishikori got back in the match after Nadal misjudged a ball that he thought was going wide when he could have smashed it. The ball fell in, and Nishikori broke Nadal with an unreachable drop shot for 4-3.

Nishikori then landed another risky drop shot to save a championship point and make it 5-5, but Nadal claimed victory two games later when the Japanese player sent the ball into the net.

Nadal Wins Hamburg Open, Closes in on Guillermo Vilas’ Clay Court Title Record

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Nadal is thisclose to cementing his status as the “King of Clay.”

The 29-year-old Spanish tennis star managed to overcome some sloppy play on his favorite surface to beat Fabio Fognini 7-5, 7-5 and win the Hamburg Open for the second time on Sunday.

Nadal squandered a 3-1 lead in the final set and saved two set points before prevailing in 2 hours and 34 minutes over the eighth-seeded Italian and the 2013 Hamburg winner.

“It was a great match, many great points, many breaks, we fought hard,” Nadal said. “I had many ups and downs.”

The former World No. 1 extended his run of having won at least one European clay-court title every year since 2004 when he took his maiden crown in Sopot, Poland.

“It’s an important title for me,” Nadal said.

Nadal now has 47 clay-court titles, second only to Guillermo Vilas‘ 49. It was Nadal’s second title on clay this year after Buenos Aires in February. He has 67 career titles overall. Nadal won in Hamburg in 2008.

With his third title of the year, Nadal will rise one spot to No. 9 in the rankings.

Fognini was trying to become the first player to beat Nadal three times on clay in a year. With six losses this year, Nadal has as many defeats on clay as in three previous years combined.

The two players traded breaks in the first four games and Nadal saved one break point to hold for 6-5. Fognini then saved three break points before Nadal clinched the set with a forehand return.

Nadal served for a 4-1 lead in the second, but Fognini turned the match before wasting two set points in the 10th game.

Nadal again had to save two break points before going 6-5 up. Two successive forehand errors by Fognini gave Nadal the match in the next game.

Nadal Beats Juan Monaco to Win First Title in Nearly Nine Months

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Nadal is back in title-winning form…

The 28-year-old Spanish tennis star lifted his first championship trophy in nearly nine months Sunday after defeating Juan Monaco 6-4, 6-1 at the Argentina Open.

Nadal, the tournament’s top seed, Spaniard hadn’t reached a final since winning the French Open last year.

It was Nadal’s 46th title on clay, tying him with Guillermo Vilas for the most titles on the sandy surface in the Open Era.

It was Nadal’s 65th career crown on all surfaces, moving him into sole possession of fifth place on the Open Era all-time list led by the 109 titles of American Jimmy Connors.

Nadal broke Monaco’s serve late in the first set to take a 1-0 lead against the 60th-ranked Argentine, then dominated the second to close out the match in 1 hour, 26 minutes.

Rain in Buenos Aires delayed the start of the match and caused its interruption at 1-1 in the first set.

Nadal, who had to deal with injuries in recent months, now has 65 singles titles.

Nadal Defeats Carlos Berlocq to Reach Argentina Open Final

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Nadal is back in a men’s final after a long drought…

The 28-year-old Spanish tennis star beat Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq 7-6 (7), 6-2 on Saturday, setting up an all-Latino final against Juan Monaco at the Argentina Open.

If he wins Sunday, Nadal will tie Guillermo Vilas for the most clay-court titles with 46.

The top-seeded Nadal was on the brink of losing the first set against the 74th-ranked Berlocq, falling 6-1 to the Argentine in the tiebreak, but the Spaniard won eight of the next nine points to make his first final since winning the Roland Garros title almost nine months.

Monaco, seeking his second title at the Argentina Open, edged Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-4 in 2 hours, 28 minutes.

The 60th-ranked Argentine saved 12 of 15 the break points he allowed to Almagro.

Monaco Claims 300th ATP Tour-Level Win at Shenzhen Open

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Monaco is part of Argentina’s Magnificent Seven…

The 30-year-old Argentine tennis player, a former World No. 10, claimed his 300th tour-level win on Wednesday at the Shenzhen Open as he battled past Vasek Pospisil 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in just under two hours.

“It’s amazing. 300 victories is a lot,” said Monaco, who has eight career titles. “It’s a gift and it gives me a boost of power for my next matches. I’m really happy.”

Monaco has become the seventh Argentine player in the Open Era to win at least 300 singles matches on the ATP World Tour, joining an illustrious group that includes tennis legend Guillermo Vilas (928 wins), as well as David Nalbandian (383) and Juan Martin del Potro (312).

Additionally, Monaco becomes the 26th active member on the ATP World Tour (sixth this season) to win at least 300 career matches.

Monaco’s first tour-level win came on home soil in Buenos Aires in 2004 against Nicolas Lapentti. Speaking to ATPWorldTour.com, he hailed his greatest win as being his victory over Tommy Haas in the 2012 Hamburg final.

“I think the most important victory in my life was the match I won in Hamburg. It was really important for me because I knew before the match that if I won, I’d break into the Top 10. Also it was the final of an [ATP World Tour] 500, in Germany, against Tommy. It was incredible and the best day of my life for sure.”

Here’s a look at Monaco’s achievements By The Numbers…

ARGENTINA’S 300 WINS CLUB

Player	Match Wins No.
Guillermo Vilas	929
David Nalbandian	383
Jose-Luis Clerc	375
Juan Ignacio Chela	326
Juan Martin del Potro	312
Martin Jaime	301
Juan Monaco	300

del Potro Wins First Title of 2013

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Juan Martin del Potro has earned his first title of the year…

The 24-year-old Argentine tennis star defeated France’s Julien Benetteau 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 on Sunday to win the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

del Potro, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, became only the second Argentine player to win the Rotterdam event; he’s the first Argentine to win in Rotterdam since Guillermo Vilas took the title in the Dutch tournament in 1982.

del Potro needed only an hour and 37 minutes to beat Benetteau, who stunned top seed Roger Federer on Friday.

Along with being del Potro’s first title of 2013, it’s his 14th ATP Tour title of his career.

del Potro had reached the Rotterdam final last year only to lose to Federer in straight sets.

The ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament is an indoor hard-court event.

Nadal & Ferrer to Play an All-Spanish French Open Semifinal

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Its official… a Spaniard will compete in the French Open Men’s Championship for the 10th time in 12 years after Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer won their quarterfinal matches on Wednesday.

Nadal scored his 50th match victory at Roland Garros – one more than Swedish great Bjorn Borg’s tally and six short of the all-time record held by Argentina’s Guillermo Vilas – by defeating his countryman Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-3 in two hours and 46 minutes.

More importantly, the win put him within two victories of a record seventh French Open title; Nadal currently shares the mark with Borg.

Shortly afterward, the 30-year-old Ferrer reached the semifinals at tennis’ biggest clay-court event for the first time ever with his 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-2 victory over Scotland’s Andy Murray.

Even though Nadal’s victory was never really in question, the 26-year-old tenista was forced to play his first tiebreaker of this year’s tournament in the first set against Almagro, who put the world No. 2 on his heels at times by unleashing powerful blasts off both forehand and backhand.

But when it mattered most in the tiebreaker, Almagro made a costly error on a drop shot and later lost a 34-ball rally to fall behind 4-0, eventually losing that first-set decider by a score of 7-4.

The rest of the match was then practically a formality considering Nadal’s record at the French Open when winning the first set was 46-0 coming into the contest, although Almagro’s potent shot-making brought out the best in Nadal’s defensive skills.

“You cannot expect to win an easy match in (the) quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, (the) quarterfinals of Roland Garros,” Nadal said in the post-match press conference. (It) was a tough one, but I am through and I am very happy.”

He also looked ahead to his semifinal against good friend Ferrer. Nadal holds a 12-1 career edge in their meetings on clay but he’s expecting a difficult challenge on Friday.

“We (have) played each other a lot of times. His game bothers everybody because he’s one of the best players in the world on every surface – on clay especially,” Nadal said. “He’s a complete player. It’s very difficult to play against him, because his movement is probably the best in the world and he’s able to hit the ball very early a lot of the time.”

Meanwhile, Ferrer used his forehand to dictate most of the rallies in his grueling, three-hour, 45-minute slugfest Wednesday against Murray, shrugging off a second-set hiccup and a half-hour rain delay at the start of the third set.

The world No. 6 wore a big smile after a Murray backhand went wide on match point, thrilled to finally reach the final four of this Grand Slam event after several disappointing losses in previous years.

“My first time in semifinal in Roland Garros, so I feel good,” Ferrer said after his win. “It was a very tough match, and I’m very happy. Maybe it was in important moments I played better than him. I played very good with my forehand.”

Referring to the daunting task that awaits him in the next round, Ferrer said he will “try and play a beautiful match, my best tennis.”

With Wednesday’s results, Spain will be represented in the French Open final for the 10th time in the last 12 years; 2004 and 2009 were the only exceptions.

The victor in the Nadal-Ferrer match will play the winner of Friday’s other semifinal, which will pit world No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia and world No. 3 Roger Federer of Switzerland.

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