Tennis: Thiem, Monfils, Fognini, and Schwartzman alive and kicking at the clay court event in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Dominic Thiem leads the charge at the clay court event in Buenos Aires, Argentina this year.

Diego Schwartzman breaks the Buenos Aires jinx.

Diego Schwartzman registered a straight sets win over Andreas Haider-Maurer in the first round and then made short of Thomas Belluci in three. Schwartzman has won 441 matches so far in his career with 389 of them coming on the clay courts. Moreover, all of his titles have come at the clay court events. Thomaz Bellucci had played three matches, including the qualifiers this week and seemed a little tired. Both Schwartzman and Bellucci had failed to progress beyond the second round in previous five appearances at this tournament. However, Diego Schwartzman not only broke the jinx at Buenos Aires and booked himself a place in the quarters, but also took a 3-2 lead in the head-to-head record against Thomaz Bellucci. He’ll face Aljaz Bedene who defeated Albert Ramos in three.

Aljaz Bedene bagels Jiri Vesley and then takes out Albert Ramos.

Aljaz Bedene enjoyed a highly successful clay court season in 2017 when he won 23 of his 29 clay court encounters. Bedene had lost three of his four matches on tour earlier this year but bageled Jiri Vesely in his first round match here. Bedene then took out a tired Albert Ramos who was playing his seventh match, including two three and one four-setter, in the last fourteen days. The winner between Bedene and Schwartzman could meet Pablo Carreno-Busta in the semifinals if Carreno-Busta can get past his opponent in the quarters.

Dominic Thiem could meet either Gael Monfils or Fabio Fognini in the semifinals.

Dominic Thiem plays Guido Pella, who defeated Fernando Verdasco in two yesterday. Thiem, as the top seed, is the favorite to win his quarterfinal against Guido Pella and could play either the talented Fabio Fognini or the super athletic Gael Monfils in the semis. Dominic Thiem would need to play his best tennis to get past either of them.