Schwartzman Storms Through Los Cabos Opener

Third seed Diego Schwartzman made his Los Cabos debut a memorable one on Wednesday at the Abierto de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex. The Argentine raced through the last nine games of his match with Latvian Ernests Gulbis to reach the quarter-finals 7-5, 6-0.

Schwartzman dropped just 10 points in the second set to record a convincing win under the lights. Next up for him is eighth-seeded Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin, who defeated Cameron Norrie 7-5, 7-5. Norrie served for both sets at 5-4, but Kukushkin fought back to advance in one hour and 35 minutes. The 31-year-old is enjoying a career-best season that includes a runner-up finish in Marseille (l. to Tsitsipas) and advancing to the second week at Wimbledon.

Second-seed Guido Pella opened his Los Cabos campaign in style by moving past Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-2 for his eighth ATP Tour quarter-final of the year. Pella went on a six-game run to lead 5-0 in the second set before closing out the match in 71 minutes. The 29-year-old Argentine won his maiden ATP Tour crown this March in Sao Paulo (d. Garin) and reached a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 21 in May.

Awaiting Pella is South Korean qualifier Soon Woo Kwon, who took out Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 for his first ATP Tour quarter-final. The 21-year-old has primarily competed on the ATP Challenger Tour and picked up two titles this season. Kwon, currently No. 112 in the ATP Rankings, will become the third South Korean to ever crack the Top 100 if he can reach the semi-finals this week.

Seventh-seeded Moldovan Radu Albot scored seven breaks of serve in dispatching Japanese Taro Daniel 6-1, 6-2. He awaits the winner between fourth-seeded Frenchman Lucas Pouille and 2017 runner-up Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2LVrffA