Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the final of the ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, one of the most important tennis tournaments in Latin America, beating Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo and Italy’s Fabio.
Schwartzman, 14th player in the world, beat his compatriot Cerundolo (100th in the world) 7-6 (4), 6-3 in 2 hours and 2 hours, obviously very tired after playing, on the same day, the quarterfinals of the match of the final against the Spaniard Pablo Andujar. This match, which won exhaustingly in three sets (7-6, 4-6, 6-4) and over three and a half hours of the Argentine match, was postponed on Friday due to rain.
Diego Schwartzman, 29, will try to become the first tennis player to win the Rio tournament twice on Sunday, after a first victory in 2018.
Carlos Alcaraz, 18, had surprised this morning by defeating (6-2, 2-6, 6-2) in the quarterfinals the Italian Matteo Berrettini, 6th player in the world and a big favorite of the tournament, after a match. stopped for about two hours due to bad weather.
In the semifinals, which he played three hours after that first victory, he quickly eliminated (6-2, 7-5) the 38th in the world Fabio Fognini in 1:45, qualifying for the first ATP 500 final of his career. .
“It was not at all easy to play two games on the same day, two very difficult games against great players. I surprised myself by enduring so many difficulties in a single day. “I am very excited,” Alcaraz said.
