Tennis – ATP 250 – Argentina Open Final – Lawn Tennis Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina – February 17, 2019 Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman in action during his final match against Italia’s Marco Cecchinato REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
February 17, 2019
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Italian Marco Cecchinato won the Argentina Open on Sunday with a clinical 6-1 6-2 demolition of hometown favorite Diego Schwartzman.
World number 18 Cecchinato raced through the match in little over an hour to claim his third ATP title.
Buenos Aires-born Schwartzman buckled under the pressure of playing in front of a partisan crowd and at one stage lost seven games in a row.
Cecchinato romped to the title without dropping a set all week. The 26-year-old captured titles in Umag and Budapest last year and is now three for three in ATP finals.
“Winning my third tournament in my third final makes me happy,” he said. “I want to be physically good and train harder for the rest of the year. I know that I’ll continue to have good results if I stay mentally solid.
“I was able to play a great match and was always focused. I followed the game plan from the beginning to the end. I improved my level yesterday and I was focused today, so I’m happy with how I was able to win the tournament.”
(Reporting by Andrew Downie, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Clare Fallon)
