Rome Italy) – Friday started with mixed feelings for the Italian fans at the Masters 1000 in Rome. On the one hand, frustration at the withdrawal of one of the main names in the competition, 26th seed Lorenzo Musetti. On the other hand, Luciano Darderi lit up the Foro Itálico with a great victory over Argentine Mariano Navone.
Musetti lasted 67 minutes on the court against Frenchman Terence Atmane, currently 137th in the world who entered the group from qualifying, and abandoned the match at the beginning of the second set, when he lost his debut in Rome with the score of 7/5 and 1/ 0. “I’m really sorry about today, I tried with all my strength and gave what little I had,” said the Italian after the match.
“Yesterday I canceled training, I was in my room with a fever due to an intestinal virus that didn’t allow me to be prepared for today’s game. I had little energy, I was weak. In the match I tried to shorten the exchanges, but that was how it was. It hurts, I felt very good in training, I came from a good week in Sardinia, I trained well”, added Musetti.
Runner-up in the Cagliari challenger, the Italian saw his tormentor last week also fall on his debut. Seeded 28th, Argentine Mariano Navone had the title stamped by Darderi, who delighted the local fans by triumphing with partials of 6/3 and 6/2 in the first men’s match of the day at the Grand Stand Arena.
Dimitrov catches Musetti’s executioner
Eighth highest-rated for the title, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov was no pushover against Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, who held firm until the last point, but was unable to avoid defeat in two tight sets, with the final score of 7/5 and 6 /4, after 1h37 of confrontation. In the next round, he will face the Frenchman Atmane, Musetti’s tormentor in the competition, in an unprecedented duel.
In turn, Italian Darderi still doesn’t know who his next opponent will be at the Masters 1000 in Rome. The home tennis player awaits the winner of the clash between German Alexader Zverev, third pre-classified, and Australian Aleksandar Vukic, who will face each other later this Friday at Foro Itálico.
