Luca Giacomini is the man of the hour in Val Gardena. © Diego Runggaldier
Exciting games took place again on the third day of the tournament at the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena South Tyrol. One man from the boot state in particular made the fans cheer.
25. October 2023
From: pm/tu
Luca Giacomini is the big surprise at the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena South Tyrol, the country’s largest tennis tournament, which is celebrating its 14th edition this week in the Ortisei tennis hall. Giacomini has already surprisingly survived qualification and today celebrated an unexpected 6:3, 6:4 victory in the first round against Louis Wessels from Germany, who is 356 places ahead of him in the world rankings.
The 25-year-old from Padua was happy after the match: “It’s the first time since 2019 that I survived qualifying at a Challenger and then reached the round of 16. Four years ago I had my best ranking in the world rankings at 460, but then I had abdominal problems and had to take a year and a half off after shoulder surgery. Now I hope that I can come back even stronger,” said Giacomini, who will face Illya Martchenko from Ukraine in the round of 16 on Thursday. The former world number 49 (2016) is in good form and only lost in the final against Dennis Novak at the Challenger in Hamburg last week. Today in the first round, Marchenko defeated the young Italian Lorenzo Rottoli 6-4, 6-4 after trailing 2-4 in the second set.
Billi Harris is also one round further. © Diego Runggaldier
As the fourth Italian after Federico Gaio, Francesco Forti (they play against each other on Thursday at 6 p.m. for a place in the quarter-finals) and Giacomini, Enrico Dalla Valle also reached the round of 16 today. He defeated the young Russian Yaroslav Demin 7:6 (3), 6:4 and ended the match with the 17th ace after just under two hours. Demin is only No. 1,157 in the world, but he is ranked No. 4 in the ITF Junior (Under 18) rankings. Demin was in the junior finals at Wimbledon this year and he also played in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals last week Chengdu took part in China and achieved fifth place there.
“He is a good young player who has already achieved excellent results and was number 1 in the juniors. I didn’t play my best tennis today, but I served very well,” said Dalla Valle, who faces another difficult task against a teenager in the round of 16. The Jordanian Abdullah Shelbayh is number 1 in the tournament and is only 19 years old. “He’s definitely a very good player, but I know I have my chances. I hope I can play even better tomorrow,” said Dalla Valle.
Ilja Marchenko defeated the Italian Lorenzo Rottoli. © Diego Runggaldier
The round of 16 games began in the afternoon. The first player to qualify for Friday’s quarterfinals was Poland’s Maks Kasnikowski, who eliminated another Belgian after No. 2 seed Gauthier Onclin. Kasinkowski won after 2:11 hours against Michael Geerts 5:7, 6:3, 7:6 (4) and qualified for the quarter-finals of a Challenger for the third time this year after Modena and Grodzisk Mazowiecki. Briton Billy Harris also showed a strong performance, not having to fend off a breakball in the 6:2, 7:6 (3) win against qualifier Hynek Barton from the Czech Republic. Harris’ next opponent is a qualifier: Danill Glinka from Estonia celebrated his fourth win in a row in Val Gardena today and fended off all three break points in a 6:4, 6:4 win against the Swiss Antoine Bellier.
2023-10-25 20:38:20
#Azzurro #surprises #Val #Gardena #Tennis
