Stefano Travaglia wins derby and praises Francesco Maestrelli

Travaglia beats Maestrelli

Stefano Travaglia, Nerman Fatic and Borna Gojo are the first three players to reach the round of 16 at the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena Südtirol. Travaglia (ATP number 305) won a comeback match and defeated 19-year-old Francesco Maestrelli (ATP number 184) in the Italian duel 2:6, 6:3 and 6:4. Maestrelli immediately took a 4:0 lead, in the second set Travaglia entered the match better and managed to even the score after the break in the eighth game. In the final set another break in the ninth game was decisive. After almost two hours of play Travaglia closed the match with an ace. This was the 30-year-old Italian’s comment at the end of the match: “I knew it was a difficult match. Maestrelli plays well, he got good results this year. Here in Ortisei, the serve and the response counts so much, even if the surface is much slower than in other years. I didn’t start at my best, I didn’t like myself, but I changed gears and managed to bring home this important match.” Travaglia comes from a year “a little bit particular. I’m looking for good feelings. The match is different from practice. I try to play on fast surfaces, I think I express my tennis better on fast. That’s why I chose not to go to South America.”

Nerman Fatic (Bosnia-Herzegovina) defeated Andrea Arnaboldi 6- 2, 6-3 to become the first player to reach the second round. In the last match of the first day of the most important tennis tournament in South Tyrol, Croatia’s Borna Gojo prevailed over Matteo Gigante (ATP 237) with a score of 6:2, 6:4. The world number 182 awaits the winner of the first-round duel between Andreas Seppi and Yannick Hanfmann in the round of 16, scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, which could be the last match of the South Tyrolean’s career. Seppi ends his professional career, which began in 2002, with the tournament in his home country.