After stunning season, Schwartzman to make Finals debut

The ATP Finals are about to get a fresh but familiar face, with Diego Schwartzman, at 28 years old, qualifying for London for the first time.

It's been a season of breakthrough results for the Argentine, even though he went under the radar without a tournament title.

Here are some highlights from how it went down:

1

Australian Open

Schwartzman started his Grand Slam season by winning three matches in nine consecutive sets to advance to the fourth round. He fell to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

2

ATP 250 finals

During the February Golden Swing, Schwartzman made his first final of the year, at the Cordoba Open in his native Argentina. He'd become runner-up at another ATP 250 in October, beating Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semis in Cologne, Germany.

3

Rome

Playing his "best match ever," Schwartzman upset Rafael Nadal, 6-2, 7-5, at the Italian Open. He then beat Denis Shapovalov to make his maiden Masters 1000 final. (Djokovic won that match, 7-5, 6-3.)

4

Roland Garros

Schwartzman reached another career milestone at the French Open, making his first major semifinal with a five-set win over defending finalist Dominic Thiem. Like in Melbourne, he next lost to the tournament victor, this time Nadal.

Still, the performance was enough to enable Schwartzman to break into the Top 10 in the rankings.

In Paris last week, he needed to beat Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals to secure his London berth. Since he lost, he then patiently waited for Pablo Carreno Busta to lose to Nadal later that same day. With the absence of Roger Federer, Schwartzman's No. 9 spot in the Race to London gets him into the ATP Finals.

In addition to Djokovic, Nadal, Thiem, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, owner of an astonishing five 2020 titles, is set to make his debut simultaneously with Schwartzman.

The year-end championships will be held without fans Nov. 15–22.