Sinner and Alcaraz on the shields in Vienna
The Challenger 80 from Bergamo (indoor concrete) is finally back, which last year was suspended, a few hours before the final was held between Enzo Couacaud and Illya Marchenko, because Italy was about to enter into lockdown and the whole world in the Covid 19 tunnel. So the dispute of this tournament, with the shift of the date from March to November, is for us all the certification of a return to normality, in which we can again talk only about tennis and ask ourselves who this year will be the player who will be launched from a tournament that has always been an authentic laboratory for future champions. Let’s just remember that the last two winners were Matteo Berrettini in 2018 and Jannik Sinner in 2019.
The only certain thing is that this time it will not be an Italian name because the blue patrol arrived at the end of the year with an evident reserve of energy, exhausted by a season that was tiring for everyone, for some more. First of all for our young people who have paid dearly for the extraordinary progress they have made. Starting with Flavio Cobolli (600 positions in the standings gained this year) losing 6-4 7-5 to Damir Dzumhur (# 143 ATP), wasting everything more in a second set that he seemed to be about to take home several times. Ahead 4-1 with a double break, he makes himself reach 4-4, and then regains the advantage when two double faults by the Bosnian give him a further break. Too bad that Flavio immediately returns the favor and also with interest.
Under 5-6 he tries to resist in all ways, cancels four match points but the fifth is decisive and the Roman must sadly reach the shower. The Bosnian nevertheless had very kind words for the opponent: “The outcome of the meeting depended above all on him. In this he reminds me a lot of Fognini, with which you never know what’s going to happen. Flavio too can play very well as well as give you many points. In any case, in some situations he has really played in the top 50 and, if he continues like this, he will reach that level for sure “.
Roberto Marcora also out in the first round (here finalist in 2019 when he lost from the Sinner revelation) who fought for almost two hours against Dennis Novak (# 107 ATP) and then gave up 7-6 (4) 7-6 (2). For Luca Nardi, too, the path is interrupted prematurely by the hand of Illya Marchenko (# 154 ATP) who, winning 7-6 (1) 6-4, begins to hope to be able to collect the credit she has with this tournament, after missing the 2020 final. Luca Potenza is also out immediately that can do little against the experience of Slovak Filip Horansky (# 197 ATP) who wins 6-4 6-3, even if the Sicilian had started with the right attitude, without any awe. However, the blue was very good at overcoming qualifications, eliminating two non-trivial opponents such as Matteo Martineau and Filip Misolic.
Matteo Arnaldi too, back from a season of good results and annoying injuries, he immediately greets the company, yielding 6-3 6-7 (4) 7-6 (5) to that old fox of Sergiy Stakhovsky (# 227 ATP). In the end it was the turn of Federico Gaius try to avoid a bleak zero in the box of Italian victories in the first round, which has never happened in 15 editions of the tournament. But the man from Faenza was unable to put up a valid resistance to the Russian Evgeny Donskoy (# 170 ATP and famous only for a victory over Federer in Dubai 2017), clearly yielding 6-3 6-3.
Not even at the Challenger 80 in Tenerife (outdoor concrete) the Italians are doing so well, obviously apart from Marcello Marchesini and his MEF who gave another great organizational test with this Challenger that follows closely the WTA 250 won by the 21-year-old American Ann Li . Returning to the field the only blue who passes the first round is Lorenzo Giustino who, having beaten the Spaniard Daniel Rincon, finds himself however in Fernando Verdasco (n.165 ATP and third-seeded) against whom he loses 6-2 6-2 in just an hour of play. The zero break points he had against the nine allowed (four transformed) made all the difference. The former Spanish top 10 (n.7 of 2009) will turn 38 on November 15th and is spending the last pennies of a career at sunset. But evidently he is still able to give the paw with his waving left-handed, as Justin will be able to confirm.
Already in the first round Verdasco had eliminated another blue, Jimbo Moroni who, perhaps taking the field a little frightened, lost the first set in an instant but in the second he gained confidence in his shots and began to command the game. In the third, unfortunately, there was no new story. Fatal first round also for Thomas Fabbiano who gives to the Frenchman Manuel Guinard (# 251 ATP) with a score of 6-2 3-6 6-4 and probably can’t wait for this very unfortunate year to end.
It was also played in Germany, in the Bavarian village of Eckental (Challenger 80, indoor concrete) where the only Italian in the scoreboard era Andrea Vavassori, who on Sunday had been a great protagonist with the Pistoia Tennis Club, taking home the two decisive points against Park Genova. In the German tournament (where he also plays doubles always paired with Dustin Brown) he passed the first round without too many worries against the landlord Matthias Bachinger. The 34-year-old German has never had a real chance and can be satisfied to have brought the blue to third (6-4 3-6 6-3). In the next round Jiri Vesely (86 ATP and second seeded) was undoubtedly a much higher obstacle, as confirmed the dry 6-4 6-1 inflicted on the Turin player.