Lorenzo beats the Serbian in two sets and confirms his recovery at the start of the year. Nardi also continues as a lucky loser thanks to Etcheverry’s withdrawal: he will face one of Kovacevic or Zhang
Italy-Serbia, always Italy-Serbia. It’s not the Davis Cup semi-final and Malaga is far away, but we always win. Lorenzo Sonego flies to the second round of the Indian Wells tournament, the first Masters 1000 ATP of the season, beating Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6 (1) 6-4, confirming his recovery from the difficult start to this 2024.
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On the major circuit, Sonego had only beaten the Serbian in the final in Antalya in 2019, where he celebrated his first ATP title, and was 2-0 down in the hard court matches. Lorenzo has now equalized the scores and did so with a really good performance, also overcoming a very delicate break suffered in the first set at 5-5: Kecmanovic had gone to serve for the set, the Turin player simply said no, equalizing the scores and playing immediately after a fantastic tiebreak, winning the first set and stunning his opponent. The 28-year-old from Turin kept his foot on the accelerator, breaking Kecmanovic, kept at bay by a backhand in the evening of grace for Lorenzo, at 2-2, and maintaining the advantage until the end, closing the set and the match with a 6 -4 in one hour and 31 minutes of play, with twelve aces for the blue and a robust 95% of points with the first. A good omen, in short, towards Cameron Norrie, the Englishman who surprisingly won at Indian Wells in 2021, the next opponent in the second round of the Davis Cup winner.
repechage
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Other good news for the Italian colors comes from the repechage of Luca Nardi as lucky loser, and who thanks to Etcheverry’s forfeit also inherits the second round from the Argentine, where he will face one of Kovacevic or Zhang. The other matches with the Italian protagonist are scheduled in the middle of the night: Fabio Fognini (on the scoreboard thanks to a wildcard) will be involved on field 3 in the fifth match of the day against Bernabe Zapata Miralles, while Flavio Cobolli will face Roberto Carballes Baena and Peyton Stearns.