Diego Schwartzman showed character in his second-round encounter with Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, battling back from a set down to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday. The sixth-seeded Argentine needed two hours and three minutes to record the victory and in the process reach his sixth quarterfinal of the season.
Waiting in the last eight for Schwartzman is Florian Mayer. Friday’s quarterfinal showdown will be their first-ever meeting on the ATP Tour. We give the slight edge, however, to Schwartzman because of his affinity with the clay courts. He is 17-11 on the slow surface this season. In fact, his lone singles career title came on clay at Istanbul last year.
The dream lives on for Florian Mayer. The 33-year-old became the first player into the quarterfinals after the German beat Andrey Kuznetsov, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Wednesday. It was an incredible performance by the hometown favorite who’s playing at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the 12th time in his career.
Buoyed by a partisan home crowd, Mayer unleashed a barrage of winners in the third and deciding set to finally prevail in a match that lasted an hour and 51 minutes. He will need that same kind of support this coming Friday if he is to upset Diego Schwartzman. Mayer’s just 4-5 on clay this season. Mayer will take comfort in the fact, however, that he has had some success in this tournament in the past. He reached the semifinals here in Hamburg back in 2011.
Writer’s Prediction
Schwartzman (-260) edges past Mayer in three sets.
