Pablo Carreno Busta’s highly impressive US Open campaign continued in fine style this afternoon, with the 12th seed easing past 29th seed Diego Schwartzman in straight sets to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal.
The Spaniard was forced to retire against Rafael Nadal when he reached his first major quarterfinal at the French Open earlier this season, though had a much more successful outcome this time round as he saw off Schwartzman, perhaps slightly worn out by two tough matches previously, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 59 minutes to set up a semifinal meeting against either Sam Querrey or Kevin Anderson.
Carreno Busta eases through to reach the last four
Schwartzman had an extremely impressive run to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, battling past higher seeds in Marin Cilic and Lucas Pouille, though the Argentine evidently did not have anywhere near enough to consistently challenge the 12th seed, who has now reached his first Grand Slam semifinal without losing a set.
Carreno Busta had not dropped a set heading into this match, and perhaps his fresher legs showed in the early stages as he broke in the opening game of the final. After that, it was the Spaniard who faced more trouble on serve, with Schwartzman starting to strike the ball more cleanly, though the Argentine missed a break point at 3-2 and was then broken for the second time, with the 12th seed taking a 5-2 lead. Schwartzman took advantage of the Spaniard’s nerves to get one break, though could not break a second time as the Spaniard served it out at the second time of asking.
Despite a slight wobble at then, Carreno Busta’s confidence after that first set showed as he broke for a 2-1 lead early on in the second set. Schwartzman immediately broke back, however, and after multiple service holds the Argentine had a golden opportunity, having three break points at 4-3 which would have seen him serve for the set.
The Spaniard was able to save all three break points, and then completed the turnaround as he broke himself; unlike in the first set, the Spaniard served out the set at the first time of asking to put himself just one set from the last four.
Two sets down. Schwartzman desperately needed a good start to the third set, but once again went an early break down with Carreno Busta now looking too strong for the 29th seed. The Spaniard was starting to strike the ball extremely cleanly, looking more comfortable than he had at some stages in the match beforehand, and a tough hold saw him take a 4-2 lead. He was able to break for a 5-2 lead, and unlike the first set had very little difficulty serving as he comfortably saw his way into the semifinals, hitting 30 winners and the same number of unforced errors on his way.