Top seed and world number 14 Diego Schwartzman from Argentina edged past Serbia’s Laslo Djere 6-1 1-6 6-2 to advance to the final of the Cordoba Open. Schwartman will be bidding to win his first title on home soil. He finished runner-up to Marco Cecchinato in just 65 minutes. Schwartzman fended off nine of the twelve break points he faced and broke serve five times.
Schwartzman came back from an early break down by breaking three times in a row to win the opening set 6-1. Djere earned two consecutive breaks to cruise through to a 6-1 win in the second set.
Schwartzman got an early break in the second game of the third set to open up a 3-0 lead and earned a chance to take a double break in the third set, but Djere saved it with a big inside-out forehand. Djere got a break-back chance, but he missed a forehand long.
Schwartzman will face a final against Chile’s Christian Garin, who came back from one set down to beat Slovakia’s Andrej Martin 2-6 6-2 6-2 after 1 hour and 57 minutes. Garin fended off all six break points he faced and broke Martin four times.
“Garin is a tough opponent. He mixes attack and defence very well. He is very dangerous. Every time we played on Tour, they were complicated matches”, said Schwartzman.
