Diego Schwartzman was wondering what could have been after a straight-sets defeat to Bulgarian Gregor Dimitrov.
Despite throwing all his ammunition at the 13th seed, Argentinian Schwartzman could not penetrate the big hitter’s armour, crashing out the tournament in straight sets for the third time in the first round 7-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Schwartzman, ranked 37, reached his career highest ranking last month.
But on his first meeting with a top-20 player on grass, he could not control Dimitrov’s pummelling serve which reached 131 mph at times.
After being broken in the 10 game in the first set, Schwartzman dug deep to break straight back that saw the set go to tie-break.
However, despite some blistering baseline play, one rally reaching 22 strokes, the Argentinean began hitting long and wide in search of an answer.
“It was really tough for me” said Schwartzman.
“The conditions were really fast and in those conditions its always better for Grigor’s game.
In the first set Grigor was not playing his best tennis. I had many chances to win, but I didn’t take my chances. Serving at 6-5, I made two unforced errors, including a double fault.
In the second and third sets I also had a few chances to come back. But it was not easy because he had confidence. Although I have never won here, I still like grass.”
