By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday November 18, 2020

 

Alexander Zverev got on the board with a three-set victory over Diego Schwartzman at the ATP Finals in London.

Photo Source: Getty

Big serving delivered a big win to Alexander Zverev at the Nitto ATP Finals on Wednesday.

The German pulled away from scrappy Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the final set to notch a 6-3 4-6 6-3 victory to stay alive in semi-final contention at London.



Zverev, the 2018 ATP Finals champion, continues to be a menace on indoor hard courts. He improves to 13-2 on indoor hard this season, with his only two losses coming against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in the Paris final and in his first match at London.

Zverev broke critically for 3-2 in the decider, after Schwartzman had turned the second set around, rallying from a break down to force a decider.

"Second set today I improve a lot," Schwartzman told reporters after the match. "When I was down 3-1 I improve a lot. I did many winners. I start to play my best, I think, almost my best, or trying to find a way to play my best. Then in the third I started really, really well, but I think at the end, you know, in this kind of surface, the serve it's important shot, and I think today did the difference at the end of the match."

The German knocked a backhand volley into the open court to claim the break in set three, and dropped just two points on serve the rest of the way. He broke Schwartzman in the ninth and final game of the set to avoid having to serve it out, as the Argentine missed a forehand into the net on the German’s first match point.

Zverev improves to 8-6 lifetime at the ATP Finals and 3-2 lifetime against Schwartzman overall. Schwartzman drops to 0-2 on his Nitto ATP Finals debut.

Zverev finished with 30 winners against 38 unforced errors while Schwartzman struck 21 winners against 26 unforced.

Zverev will face Novak Djokovic in his final round robin match on Friday, while Schwartzman will square off with Daniil Medvedev

"I feel like I played a lot better," Zverev said. "But I think this is also a process for me. You know, I didn't practice that much. After Paris I still had a little bit of an injury. I need to get used to it, and I hope that every match will be better. I hope on Friday will be even better, because that's what I need against Novak."