The two Italians eliminated in the tournament in Qatar, only the left-handed Zeppieri remains in the running
The Italian representation in Doha has already been reduced by two thirds after the first day (1,390,000 euros), the traditional February event on outdoor hard courts that has been held since 1993: Sonego and Musetti, as already happened in Rotterdam last week , they were eliminated in the first round. Giulio Zeppieri, good at emerging victorious from two qualifying rounds, remains in the running and will face the Finn Ruusuvuori on Tuesday.
sonego
—
The Piedmontese, number 49 in the world, was not expected to face a simple challenge, despite the fact that the Russian Kotov follows him by 15 positions in the rankings: in the only precedent in Stockholm, in October, the twenty-five-year-old from Muscovite had won, whose technical characteristics, despite a massive physique and apparently not very mobile, they are undoubtedly annoying for Lollo. First of all, our player often prefers to go around the ball to hit the inside-in forehand going along the line, but from the forehand side the Russian is a wall that sends everything back; secondly, he is very skilled at creating spaces for himself even with his backhand down the line, a shot that few people now know how to execute expertly. In the first set, however, nothing works for Sonego, starting with the serve, but above all it is the return that is lacking, with Kotov having no difficulty in maintaining his serves and therefore can be aggressive on the Italian’s serve. In the second set Lorenzo significantly increases his service percentages, reads Kotov’s serving trajectories better and can enter the court by making his rival move, not a lightning strike in lateral movements. Sonny goes one break ahead, finally seems in control, but the other continues to make him play one more ball, ending up reversing the situation with the counterbreak of 4-4 and the definitive break of 6-5.
hi musetti
—
However, the dark moment continues for Lorenzo Musetti, 25 ATP, who this year had changed his programming by giving up the South American terrain to test himself on the fast track. While waiting for the fresh collaboration with Barazzutti to begin to bear fruit, Muso takes a decisive step back compared to Rotterdam, where he was defeated by Griekspoor by not taking advantage of two match points; this time he was overwhelmed in 61 minutes by Zhang Zhizhen, n.48 ATP, the first Chinese ever to enter the top 100 (in 2022) and with a quick pass also in Bordighera by Piatti. Nothing works for Lorenzo: 41% of points with just the first, out-of-measure groundstrokes, error after error as soon as he searches for a different solution that will never arrive. Disheartening: “I’m training well, then in the match nothing of what I prepared comes to me.” Single recipe, head down and keep working: sometimes all it takes is one click to change the path of a difficult phase of your career.
for sinner
—
It almost seems that Sinner’s extraordinary moment has sterilized the other Azzurri, casting a cone of shadow over them from which they struggle to escape. Sonego, however, does not believe that Jannik’s successes put pressure on other Italians, on the contrary: “First of all, I am happy for him because he is a friend. For me he represents a stimulus, I always try to take something from the strongest and at the moment he is the strongest player in the world, he has a continuity and an awareness that make his results seem natural. Only Djokovic can stand by him now: in response, in the ability to manage the most important points and in the overall solidity of the game they are at the same level, Nole is better at the net but Jannik has more sudden accelerations from the baseline. And above all he is 14 years younger… I believe that due to the technical completeness Jannik has achieved this year he can also win on clay”. For Musetti, Sinner’s parable had already been clear since November: “The way he played in the Finals and then Davis understood what level he could aspire to, then if you beat Djokovic, Medvedev and Alcaraz and not just once, you acquire extraordinary confidence . In Australia, he made winning a Grand Slam look easy, which remains a phenomenal feat. On the ball, he always arrives with his feet in place, a quality of the greats that is very reminiscent of Djokovic. He has improved a lot on serve, but in my opinion the most important maturation has occurred on a physical level”.
Gazzetta dello Sport
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED