Australian Open: Musetti wins derby with Arnaldi, Sonego beats Wawrinka
Musetti wins derby with Arnaldi, Sonego beats Wawrinka
It goes to Lorenzo Musetti the all-Italian derby with Matteo Arnaldi, a match valid for the first round of the Australian Open. The Carrara-born, 16th seed in Melbourne, overcame the San Remo native in four sets (7-6 4-6 7-6 6-3) after more than four hours of play and flies to the second round where he will face the winner of the challenge between Roberto Bautista Agut and Denis Shapovalov.
In the first set Arnaldi squandered a 5-2 lead: Musetti recovered his opponent and dragged the set to the tie-break, winning it 7 points to 4. Also in the second set the Ligurian did not exploit twice a break lead but on 4-4 he strung two games in a row, equalizing the set count. The third set è again decided by the tie-break and to win it è again the Carrara player, who also makes the fourth partial his own by winning the last five games of the match.
Lorenzo Sonego also advances to the second round of the Australian major. In fact, the Piedmontese beat Stan Wawrinka, champion in Melbourne in 2014, with a final score of 6-4 5-7 7-5 7-5 after 3 hours and 11 minutes of play. In the next round the Italian will face the winner of the challenge between Andrey Rublev and Joao Fonseca.
Sonego got the break already in the third game that won him the first partial (6-4). The azure, however, goes down by a break in the second set, recovers it but surrenders 5-7. In the third set, down 4-5, Sonego threads three games in a row and moves ahead in the set count. The fourth set was decided in the tenth game: the Turinese nullified three set points in a row, tied at 5-5 and closed 7-5.