Schwartzman Outlasts Djere, To Play For Home Glory In Cordoba

Top seed Diego Schwartzman defeated fourth seed Laslo Djere 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 on Saturday evening to reach the final of the Cordoba Open in front of his home fans in Argentina.

The World No. 14 has never won an ATP Tour event in his home country, but he will get his chance on Sunday when he faces Chilean Cristian Garin. Last year in Buenos Aires, Schwartzman made the final, but fell short against Italian Marco Cecchinato in just 65 minutes.

"It was an ugly match really, we alternated the control of the match. Sometimes you find some peace thanks to the crowd. Playing at home is what I cherish the most about tennis," Schwartzman said. "I want to enjoy the chance to play a final in my country."

The 27-year-old faced a tough test against Djere, who won the clay-court ATP 500 event held in Rio de Janeiro last year. But Schwartzman was the more consistent player, letting out a big roar when Djere missed an inside-out forehand to end the semi-final after one hour and 58 minutes.

Djere at times was able to control play, but too often he made unforced errors — including 18 in the first set — to give the home favourite the advantage. Schwartzman had a chance to go up a double-break in the decider, but Djere wiped out that opportunity with a big inside-out forehand.

In a flash the Serbian had a break point to get back on serve, but he missed a forehand long, and that was his greatest opportunity to reel in the top seed. Schwartzman saved nine of the 12 break points he faced, breaking Djere five times in his victory.

His opponent in the final, Garin, won his first two ATP Tour titles in 2019. And on Sunday, the Chilean will have a chance to lift tour-level trophy No. 3. The World No. 31 beat Slovakian Andrej Martin 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday evening to reach the championship match.

The third seed got off to a slow start on the red clay in Argentina against Martin, who was pursuing his first ATP Tour title. But Garin saved all six break points he faced in the second and third sets to triumph after one hour and 57 minutes. Martin, who was unseeded, had the crowd behind him as he went after inside-out forehands to try to put the Chilean on the back foot. But Garin was the stronger player behind his serve, winning 50 per cent of his return points and breaking the World No. 100 four times in his victory.

It has been a turnaround week for Garin, who lost his first four matches of the season and then fell in the second round of the Australian Open. Garin has shown impressive grit in Cordoba, also rallying after losing the first set of his quarter-final against sixth seed Pablo Cuevas.

Schwartzman leads Garin 2-1 in their ATP Head2Head series, with all three of their tour-level meetings coming since April 2018. They also met twice outside of tour-level in 2014, splitting those matches.

"Garin is a tough opponent," Schwartzman said. "He mixes attack and defence very well. He’s very dangerous. Every time we played on the Tour, [they] were complicated matches."