Rome Italy) – This Thursday’s round complement of the Masters 1000 in Rome brought great results for the Italians. Veteran Fabio Fognini and young Matteo Arnaldi are among the highlights of the day for the home fans.
Fognini, 36 years old and currently 92nd in the ranking, beat Briton Daniel Evans, 67th, by 6/4, 3/6 and 6/2. Invited to the tournament, the former world number 9 is making his 17th appearance at the Masters 1000 in Rome and his best result is the 2018 quarterfinals.
Fognini’s opponent in the second round will be the American Taylor Fritz, 13th in the ranking. They have already faced each other twice, with the Italian winning in Chengdu in 2018, while Fritz got revenge the following season in Los Cabos.
The 23-year-old young man and current 37th in the ranking Matteo Arnaldi made the fact of playing at home count to beat the Frenchman Harold Mayot, 130th placed, by 3/6, 7/5 and 6/4. Arnaldi is competing in the Rome Masters 1000 for the third time in his career and is already repeating last year’s result, when he also advanced one round.
In the next round, Arnaldi will face Chilean Nicolas Jarry, 28 years old and currently ranked 24th. The two duels between them were won by Jarry, in Beijing last year and in Adelaide this year.
Jovens, Nardi and Gigante also advance, Sonego falls on debut
Another name from the new Italian generation moving forward is Luca Nardi, 20 years old and 81st in the ranking. He beat the German Daniel Altmaier, 78th place, by double 6/4 and now challenges the Danish Holger Rune, 12th in the world and 10th seed in the tournament, in an unprecedented confrontation on the circuit.
In a duel between Italian guests, Matteo Gigante, 22 years old and 139th in the ranking, defeated Giulio Zeppieri, 144th placed, by 7/6 (7-2) and 6/4. His next rival is Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo, 25th in the rankings.
In the match that closed this Thursday’s schedule, the 47th in the ranking Lorenzo Sonego was eliminated by the Serbian Dusan Lajovic, 64th placed, who scored the partials of 6/3, 6/7 (5-7) and 6/3. Lajovic faces Argentine Sebastian Baez, 19th in the world.
