On day 1 (Monday) Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Sonego had also taken the pass for the second round.
He had to fight hard Berrettini, also against stomach pain (eloquent “Imodium thank you”, written on the camera lens). The 25 year old Roman, n.7 in ranking and seeding, defeated 46 62 76 (5) 63, after a battle of three hours and ten minutes, the American Brandon Nakashima, 20-year-old Californian from San Diego, # 68 ATP, on his absolute debut in Melbourne, never faced before in his career by the blue.
Matteo – at the fifth participation in the Slam Down Under where he boasts as his best result last year’s round of 16 when, due to the abdominal injury remedied in the third round against the Russian Khachanov, he did not even take the field against Tsitsipas – he will find the American Stefan Kozlov in the second round on Wednesday, n.169 of the ranking, on the scoreboard thanks to a wild card. The 23-year-old of Macedonian origin (he was born in Skopje) plays the Hally Slam for the first time: there is no precedent between the two.
The exclusion of Nole makes the tennis player’s scoreboard a little less complicated, followed by coach Vincenzo Santopadre, who had happened for the fourth time in the last four Grand Slams (!) On the side of the number one in the world and who theoretically could have faced in the quarterfinals .
Sonego’s task is much easier, fresh from the quarters in Sydney (stopped by Karatsev). The 26-year-old from Turin, 26 ATP and 25th seeded – probably not unhappy with the prospect of not meeting Djokovic in a hypothetical third round – beat 75 63 63, in just under two and a quarter hours, the other American Sam Querry, 110 in the ranking, also replicating in terms of points the outcome of last year’s challenge, again in the first round of last year’s Australian Open.
Wednesday the obstacle of “Sonny” – fifth participation for the Piedmontese, never beyond the second round (2018, starting from the qualifiers, and 2021) – will be the German Oscar Otte, 96 ATP, for the first time in the game in the main draw of the Happy Slam: Lorenzo is ahead by 3-1 in the previous budget but the 28-year-old from Cologne has won in four very hard-fought sets the very last, played at first round of last year’s US Open.
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