Tennis, Sardinia Open: Bellucci beats Sonego

Chiaroscuro day for the Italian colors at the Challenger 175 in Cagliari. After Berrettini’s exhilarating victory on Tuesday, also thanks to three derbies, four of the nine Azzurri who took to the field today are forced to say goodbye to the tournament. The defeat of one of the most anticipated names, Federico Cinà, made a stir, but he had to face a far from banal opponent like Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who only on Saturday was still involved in the Masters 1000 in Madrid. 6-7(8) 6-4 6-3 the score in favor of the Argentine, an experienced player: for Pallino it still remains a good performance, having fought against a top 70 equal for almost three hours, even canceling the first four match points. Andrea Pellegrino instead rejoices, coming from behind to beat Stefanos Sakellaridis 2-6 6-4 6-4, booking the second round against No. 4 seed Roman Andres Burruchaga. All appetizers of the most anticipated match of the day, the derby between Lorenzo Sonego and Mattia Bellucci, the only one between two top 100 players.

show

—

A first round Challenger between the world no.62 and 78, among other things at their first career meeting, is objectively a luxury. And the two did not disappoint expectations (“we fought each other”, says Mattia at the end of the match), with Bellucci ultimately coming out on top 6-4 1-6 7-5. Except for a moment of confusion in the second set, the Lombard played better throughout the match. Above all by varying the game, without allowing Sonego to hit the proverbial forehands with his feet firmly on the ground. Thus comes, after three defeats in a row, the first victory in almost a month for Bellucci. Which raises the level at the end of the third set, coming back from 0-40 in the eleventh game and often sending the Cagliari public into raptures. He closed thanks to a double fault from Sonego (who had canceled out the first three with an incredible defense) on the fourth match point, obtained after a sensational running backhand pass, to reach the second round here for the second time after 2023, when he surrendered to Zeppieri after beating Schwartzman. He will challenge Gianluca Cadenasso, born in 2004, tomorrow, at around 3.30pm. At Challenger level he lost 2 out of 3 times against younger compatriots.

Derby

—

The other news of the day is Matteo Arnaldi’s return to victory. Of course, this time last year the Ligurian tennis player was playing in the quarter-finals of the 1000 in Madrid, but now he desperately needs results, even Challenger ones, to move up the rankings. And in Cagliari he made a good debut by coming from behind to beat Federico Arnaboldi, 6-7(3) 6-4 6-2. And he will face Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the round of 16, the third match in a row against an Italian player after the defeat at the hands of Darderi in Madrid and the victory against Cinà in Sardinia. The third derby, the least noble, was won by Gianluca Cadenasso against Lorenzo Carboni, who was withdrawn due to Rei Sakamoto’s withdrawal. The Genoese tennis player, who will also be involved in the qualifiers of the Italian Internationals next week, continues his good form, seeing the top 200 more and more closely. Luca Potenza instead bid farewell to the tournament, beaten 6-3 7-6(6) after almost two hours of good tennis by Aleksandar Kovacecic. There will therefore be five Italians involved in the round of 16 in Cagliari, all on the pitch tomorrow: Matteo Berrettini, the most awaited, will take to the central court at around 2pm, against the top seed Mariano Navone.