Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain thrashed fourth seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-1 6-3 in the second round of the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires on Thursday. The match lasted for less than two hours as the 26-year-old Spaniard gave the diminutive Argentine no chance to survive.
It was a disappointing performance from the 30-year-old Argentine, who was playing on his home soil, but could offer no resistance to Bernabe Zapata Miralles on the day. The Spaniard will take on another Argentine, Francisco Cerundolo, in the quarterfinal on Friday.
Bernabe Zapata Miralles Thrashes Diego Schwartzman
Zapata Miralles capitalized on a great start:
Zapata Miralles was off to a great start by breaking Schwartzman in the second game of the first set. He never let that advantage slip thereafter and once again broke the Argentine in the sixth game of the set.
However, Schwartzman played a superb defensive on the break point in the sixth game that forced the Spaniard to run back and retrieve it somehow. Schwartzman then hit the subsequent volley into the net to squander an opportunity to save the break point.
The Spaniard then served out the first set quite easily.
The Spaniard hit winners all around the court to dismantle Schwartzman in the second set:
Zapata Miralles continued his good run in the second set as well and once again got the decisive break. He also never dropped his serve to register a comfortable win in the end. There was a spectacular crosscourt forehand pass and a brilliant return winner to assert his supremacy.
Schwartzman, meanwhile, could not do enough to trouble the Spaniard and was done in by the ball bouncing less than usual on match point. The Argentine is usually a force to reckon with on clay, but Thursday was an exception.
