Schwartzman, Baez suffer heartbreaking defeats, bow out in Rome Masters

Argentine tennis sensations Diego Schwartzman and Sebastian Baez put up a great fight but ultimately fell short on Wednesday in the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome.

Baez, who was riding a six-match winning streak coming into the match, put up a great performance only to fall short to third-ranked Alexander Zverev 6-7(6), 3-6.

The 21-year-old Baez started the match strong winning his first 21 points on serve as Zverev struggled to convert his return games. However, Zverev’s power and experience proved to be too much for the young Argentine as the former survived the opening set before cruising to an easy second set win.

Meanwhile, the 15th ranked Schwartzman, who was a finalist in the 2020 edition of the tournament, failed to solve the puzzle that is Marcos Giron losing 1-6, 6-7(4). It was Schwartzman’s second consecutive loss to Giron in as many matches.

Schwartzman, who also lost the previous week in the same stage at the Madrid Masters, will hope to bounce back later this month as he competes in the French Open this May 22.