El Peque Schwartzman off to winning start at UTS London, triumphs in thriller v The Rebel Paire

El Peque Diego Schwartzman continued his UTS dominance over Benoit Paire, The Rebel, winning 11-17, 14-13, 21-10, 16-17, 5-4 in the opening match of the round-robin stage at the Grand Final in London.

It was reminiscent of their previous meeting at UTS Los Angeles, when Schwartzman won the second and third quarters and then triumphed in sudden death.

“When you are down in the score you are thinking just to come back…at the end when you have the chance, it’s a totally different thing,” El Peque said afterwards, reflecting on a dramatic decider.

The Rebel got off to the most impressive of starts, racing to a 7-1 lead and using his backhand to amazing effect – notably a 73mph winner blazing across the court to extend to 13-6.

A 20-shot rally with his “next point counts triple” card active meant Schwartzman closed the gap to 14-9.

And Paire used his own with 29 seconds left on the clock, but a daring dropshot did not clear the net. Nevertheless, he wrapped up the first quarter 17-11.

At the break, a cheery Paire jokingly refused to talk about that previous UTS match against Schwartzman in Los Angeles, when El Peque also won in sudden death – but the Rebel was unsurprisingly happy with a quarter in which he got 93 per cent of his serves in, winning 64 per cent of those points.

Schwartzman: “It was a mess”

And he was just as explosive in the second quarter, responding to El Peque’s serve with more blistering backhands – but the errors started to creep in to his game.

It gave Schwartzman the chance to get a toehold in the quarter, edging to a 12-10 lead with a minute left on the clock.

But Schwartzman hit the net with his serve and his “next point counts triple” card active – meaning the scores were level at 13-13 and forcing a deciding point, which El Peque took to seal the second quarter.

“It was a mess, I don’t have any more time and I didn’t use it before…I forgot about it,” admitted Schwartzman when asked about his use of the bonus card.

And El Peque continued his great form into the next quarter, coasting to a 17-6 lead and finding time to demonstrate his football skills with a few keepy-uppies – tempting his opponent to do the same.

Schwartzman wins in sudden-death drama

This time with 16 seconds on the clock Schwartzman remembered to use his bonus card on the Paire serve, taking the third quarter 21-10.

The Rebel was much fierier in the fourth quarter, leading 16-11 when the clock ran out – but could not take the first five quarter points, allowing Schwartzman to close the gap to 16-16 and force a deciding point on his serve.

But with a fault on his serve, El Peque gave the quarter back to The Rebel – and sudden death ensued.

And it was El Peque who finally got it done after a protracted battle.

Paire will be hoping that the repeat result does not also mean a repeat of his round-robin form in LA – when he lost all his matches.

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