Argentine Diego Schwartzman was made to work hard on Monday at the BNP Paribas Open as he battled back to overcame 18th seed Daniel Evans 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 to reach the fourth round in Indian Wells for the first time.
The 29-year-old, who is making his fourth appearance in California, backed up his hard-fought second-round win over Maxime Cressy where he saved two match points against Evans, rallying from a set and 2-4 down to advance after two hours and 21 minutes.
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With his victory, Schwartzman now leads Evans 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head Series after also defeating the Brit in the first round at the Western & Southern Open in August. The 11th seed will next face Norway’s Casper Ruud or South African Lloyd Harris in the last 16.
Earlier this season, Schwartzman, who is currently No. 15 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, captured the fourth tour-level title of his career on home soil in Buenos Aires. The Argentine arrived in Indian Wells in good form, after reaching the quarter-finals in San Diego at the start of October.
Evans was making his third appearance in Indian Wells and, like Schwartzman, was attempting to advance to the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open for the time.