Diego Schwartzman has saved three early set points before going on to beat American Taylor Fritz 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 in the final of the Los Cabos ATP tournament in Mexico.
It was a third career title but a first on hard court for the 26-year-old Argentine claycourt specialist, who dropped to the ground in jubilation after completing Saturday’s win in an hour and 43 minutes.
After a trade of service breaks in the opening set, Schwartzman had to dig deep at 6-5 40-0 down but some big serves and forehands steered him out of trouble and he forced a tiebreak.
Fritz’s serve let him down at crucial moments in the match and a couple of double faults in the tiebreak helped to hand the opening set to Schwartzman.
The 21-year-old American received a point penalty to go down 3-1 in the second set but he fought back to lead 4-2 before Schwartzman regrouped to break his opponent again for a 5-3 lead and served out for victory.