MONTREAL • Argentina's Diego Schwartzman saved four match points to record the biggest upset on Tuesday at the ATP Montreal Masters, taking out third seed Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 7-5 in the second round.
The world No. 36 had defeated 16th-ranked Roberto Bautista Agut earlier in the year and pushed Novak Djokovic to five sets at the French Open, but his win over Thiem is his biggest of the season.
On the defensive early, Thiem held on to level the match at a set apiece on his fifth set point of the second-set tie-breaker. And the 23-year-old appeared to have gained control when he powered to a 5-2 lead in the third set.
But Schwartzman would not go away, saving two match points on his serve at 3-5, another in the next game and yet another as he served to take the set to 5-5.
Schwartzman then broke the seventh-ranked Austrian to serve for the match. He fell behind 0-40, but won the last five points for his first win over a top-10 player. He was not the only great escape of the day.
Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov saved four match points en route to a 4-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 victory over Rogerio Dutra Silva in their first-round encounter.
"It's matches like this that I play for," said Shapovalov, who was set to face 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro yesterday (this morning, Singapore time) in the second round.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
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