Diego Schwartzman battled for two hours and 56 minutes on Saturday to edge Lorenzo Sonego in the semifinals of Buenos Aires, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
The win didn’t just put him into the final at his home event for the third time in the last four years, but it was also his 100th career tour-level win on clay.
SCHWARTZMAN’S CAREER RECORD BY SURFACE:
~ 100-71 on clay (.585)
~ 107-87 on hard (.552)
~ 7-11 on grass (.389)
29-year-old Schwartzman is the 26th active men’s player to reach 100 career tour-level wins on clay, but one of only two men under age 30 to have reached that milestone—the other one is 28-year-old Dominic Thiem (146-51).
Schwartzman is now a win away from successfully defending an ATP title for the first time in his career, having won Buenos Aires last year. Only one man has ever repeated in Buenos Aires, and that man is David Ferrer, who actually won back-to-back-to-back titles at the ATP 250 event in 2012, 2013 and 2014.