PARIS (Reuters) – Argentine 12th seed Diego Schwartzman continued his stealthy progress at the French Open as he reached the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-3 6-4 victory over Italian Lorenzo Sonego on Sunday.
The 28-year-old claycourt specialist was simply too solid for his unseeded opponent as he reached the last eight for the second time in businesslike fashion.
Schwartzman, like 12-times champion Rafa Nadal, has not dropped a set in his four matches and will face Austrian third seed Dominic Thiem after the U.S. Open champion slogged past French wildcard Hugo Gaston in five sets.
While Thiem, runner-up for the last two years, is looking weary, Schwartzman will have plenty in the tank.
He never looked like being troubled by Sonego, one of two Italians to reach the last 16.
The match made a stuttering start with rain causing a lengthy delay early in the first set and when play resumed at around 6pm local time Schwartzman quickly took the opener.
He forged 4-0 ahead in the second set before Sonego finally began to loosen his shoulders and land some winners, but it was too late to prevent him falling two sets down.
Sonego, ranked 46th, broke Schwartzman’s serve to lead 4-3 in the third set but could not capitalise as the Argentine, who reached the Rome final in the buildup to the French Open, recovered to wrap up a routine win.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)
