Passaro out of the tournament, OK debut for Cuevas

It was a very intense day, in which there were surprises. Great feat by Alexander Weis, who rather clearly beat Hugo Grenier, number 3 on the draw. A result that confirms the quality of the work done in recent months by the South Tyrolean, who will face Luca Nardi in the round of 16. The Pesaro did well in getting himself out of trouble against a Marcello Serafini who was galvanized by two good victories in the qualifiers. Out of two other seeds: KO Raul Brancaccio, who collapsed at a distance against the young Argentinian Lautaro Midon, while Francesco Passaro’s defeat makes a certain noise. Last year he was the up-and-comer, to the point of qualifying for the Next Gen Finals. This year he’s struggling: down to number 148 in the ATP (108 in February), he has a season balance of 16 victories and 23 defeats and surrendered to Matteo Gigante, currently in better shape than him. The Perugian fought hard in the first set, recovering two breaks from a disadvantage, but lost it all the same and surrendered with a score of 7-5 6-4. Now Gigante will challenge the qualifier Giovanni Oradini in an all-Italian draw slot, in which we are certain of having at least one blue in the semifinals. Although it wasn’t a very hot day, three players were unable to finish their engagement: Enrico Dalla Valle has the alibi of the two tournaments won consecutively. Tired and victim of cramps, he raised the white flag against Gonzalo Bueno. Renzo Olivo (against the qualified Federico Iannaccone) and Riccardo Bonadio (against Francesco Forti, also coming from the qualifiers) withdrew from the match in progress. Complicated but successful debut for Pablo Cuevas, who needed two and a half hours to beat Stefano Travaglia. The match was decided in the last game: at 4-3 in favor of him, the Ascoli had three break points to go and serve for the match. He didn’t exploit them, then in the following game there was a furious battle: despite four balls to go up 5-4, Travaglia gave up after eighteen points. In the second round, Cuevas will face the number 1 of the draw Facundo Diaz Acosta.

ASPRIA TENNIS CUP – BCS TROPHY (€73,000, clay)

First Round Singles

Lautaro Midon (ARG) b. Raul Brancaccio (ITA) 6-1 5-7 6-0

Gonzalo Bueno (PER) b. Enrico Dalla Valle (ITA) 6-2 4-2 retirement

Federico Iannaccone (ITA) b. Renzo Olivo (ARG) 6-1 4-0 retirement

Francesco Forti (ITA) b. Riccardo Bonadio (ITA) 6-3 3-0 retirement

Flavio Cobolli (ITA) b. Michael Vrbensky (CZE) 6-4 6-0

Pablo Cuevas (URU) b. Stefano Travaglia (ITA) 3-6 6-2 6-4

Luca Nardi (ITA) b. Marcello Serafini (ITA) 4-6 6-4 6-3

Giovanni Oradini (ITA) b. Oleksii Krutykh (UCR) 6-2 1-6 6-3

Matteo Gigante (ITA) b. Francesco Passaro (ITA) 7-5 6-4

Alexander Weis (ITA) b. Hugo Grenier (FRA) 6-2 6-3