Barcelona, a city historically linked to sport for Argentines, this week hosts the traditional ATP 500, the Conde de Godó, which is held at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899 (the oldest tennis institution in Spain). This Tuesday, during the second day, already very special due to Rafael Nadal’s return to competition, several national rackets took center stage. While Facundo Díaz Acosta (23 years old, from La Lucila) rose as the first eighth-finalist, Diego Schwartzman (142°) continued to deepen its results crisis, and at the close, Tomás Martín Etcheverry (30°) He presented himself with a solid victory.
Díaz Acosta, current 53rd in the world (49th in the live ranking) and surprising last ATP champion in Buenos Aires, defeated the Croatian Borna Coric (32nd; former number 12) by 6-2 and 7-5, in 1h37m . This is her first victory against a top 50 in a tournament other than Buenos Aires. Well planted on the Catalan brick dust, the player trained by Mariano Monachesi achieved three aces, did not commit double faults, achieved 70% of first serves, winning the same percentage of points with the first serve and 81% with the second. In addition, he broke the Balkan’s serve four times.
From the match between the Frenchman Luca Van Assche (99th) and the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (39th), who entered the main draw as a lucky loser due to the injured Carlos Alcaraz (3rd), Díaz Acosta’s next rival will emerge in the 8th round of the contest that distributes 2,938,695 euros.
The other Argentine who advanced on the Catalan brick dust was Etcheverry. The player from La Plata, who starts as the thirteenth favorite in the Godí, beat the Dominican Nick Hardt 7-5 and 6-2. His next opponent will be the American Brandon Nakashima, who has just eliminated the Russian Andrey Rublev, the second favorite. It will be the first duel between the two.
Summary of Díaz Acosta’s triumph
If Díaz Acosta left the Andrés Gimeno court radiant (the second most important in the tournament), Schwartzman experienced the opposite sensation. El Peque, 31 years old, in clear decline for some time, said goodbye very early in the first round of the main draw, which he had entered after surpassing the classification. In one hour and six minutes, the Serbian Dusan Lajovic (59th; finalist of the 2019 Monte Carlo Masters 1000) defeated the Buenos Aires player 6-1 and 6-2.
Schwartzman’s last success in an ATP Tour main draw was last October, in Tokyo, when he beat his compatriot Francisco Cerúndolo in the first round. Since then, Schwartzman (No. 8 in October 2020) lost seven matches on tour.
Schwartzman, who had reached at least the quarterfinals in two of the last three editions of the Barcelona ATP (quarterfinals in 2021, semifinals in 2022 and second round in 2023), was looking for his first victory on the tour on clay since who defeated the Portuguese Nuno Borges in the second round of Roland Garros 2023. However, his current level did not allow him to achieve the goal.
The one who had a hard setback in the Conde de Godó was Sebastian Baez. In the second round of the Catalan ATP, the Argentine, 19th in the world ranking, had four match points, but ended up losing to the Italian Matteo Arnaldi (40th) by 5-7, 7-6 (10-8) and 6 -2, in 2h50m. Báez’s setback adds to the one he suffered in his last competition, the Monte Carlo Masters 1000, when he lost to the German Jan Lennard Struff by 1-6, 7-6 (7-3) and 6-2 after having been ahead. 6-1 and 5-2.
Defeat of Ugo Carabelli in Germany
The ATP 250 in Munich is one of the three events on the men’s circuit that are being played this week (in addition to Barcelona and Bucharest). There, the Argentine Camilo Ugo Carabelli (109th, 24 years old) lost in the first round against the Colombian Daniel Galán (93rd) by 7-6 (7-2) and 6-4, in 2h14m. Porteño, a fanatical fan of San Lorenzo and with a childhood as a ball catcher in the Argentina Open, Ugo Carabelli had the opportunity to get valuable points to ensure direct entry to Roland Garros, but the fall in the first round adds a share of suspense for said aim.