It was not the best start for Diego Schwartzman (26th in the ATP rankings) at the Australian Open. But it was with victory, and from victories one can build. He holds on to that feeling in his stay in Melbourne.
The "Peque" reached the second round in a hard-fought five-set match and after four hours of battle against Dusan Lajovic.
However, his next opponent also had a similar struggle. The Norwegian Casper Ruud (138th) won 11-9 in the deciding set against Quentin Halys, and it can be assumed that fatigue was the same.
After two losses at the beginning of the season (in Brisbane against Aleksandr Dolgopolov and in Sydney against Feliciano López) and a debut with some uncertainty, it is time to lay the foundations for a 2018 that could have the Argentine as an important protagonist.
On his part, Pablo Cuevas (34th) will face Ryan Harrison (45th). Although the Uruguayan has a better ranking, the American will make the second match on court very difficult for him.
Matches - 17/01 - Second round
Nadal, Rafael (Esp) [1] vs. Mayer, Leonardo (Arg)
Dimitrov, Grigor (Bul) [3] vs. Mcdonald, Mackenzie (Usa)
Sousa, Joao (Por) vs. Cilic, Marin (Cro) [6]
Kyrgios, Nick (Aus) [17] vs. Troicki, Viktor (Srb)
Shapovalov, Denis (Can) vs. Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (Fra) [15]
Karlovic, Ivo (Cro) vs. Sugita, Yuichi (Jpn)
Edmund, Kyle (Gbr) vs. Istomin, Denis (Uzb)
Millman, John (Aus) vs. Dzumhur, Damir (Bih) [28]
Nishioka, Yoshihito (Jpn) vs. Seppi, Andreas (Ita)
Basilashvili, Nikoloz (Geo) vs. Bemelmans, Ruben (Bel)
Carreño Busta, Pablo (Esp) [10] vs. Simon, Gilles (Fra)
Baghdatis, Marcos (Cyp) vs. Rublev, Andrey (Rus) [30]
Jaziri, Malek (Tun) vs. Muller, Gilles (Lux) [23]
Cuevas, Pablo (Uru) [31] vs. Harrison, Ryan (Usa)
Dolgopolov, Alexandr (Ukr) vs. Ebden, Matthew (Aus)
Schwartzman, Diego (Arg) [24] vs. Ruud, Casper (Nor)