ATP Washington, for Matteo Arnaldi will be derby with Lorenzo Sonego
Reduced from two consecutive first-round eliminations on grass, in Stuttgart and Wimbledon, Matteo Arnaldi regained his smile on cement and overcame Daniel Altmaier in a comeback in the first round of the Washington tournament, after a match that lasted two hours and 40 minutes that ended 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2). For the lugure tennis player it will be tricolor derby in the second round, against Lorenzo Sonego.
After a balanced start and a sixth game in which he wasted no less than four break points, Arnaldi saw the first set slip away in the final, missing, among other things, the opportunity to take it to 5-5 when he was 40-30. Completely different was the trend in the second fraction: Altmaier went down by a break after four games, Arnaldi never looked back and evened the score.
In the decisive fraction, the German seems to get into the right gear and goes up 4-1, but Arnaldi responds like a champion and, after canceling four match points at 5-4, completes the comeback, wasting in turn two opportunities to win the match. At the tie-break, however, there’s no history: Arnaldi gives up only two points to Altmaier and goes on to win with a comfortable 7-2.
That which will be staged in the second round will be a decidedly interesting challenge between two tennis players eager to end the season in the best possible way.
Sonego, who took advantage of a bye to advance directly to the second round, was also on the doubles roster paired with Jaume Munar, but was eliminated in the super tie-break by Alexander Erler and Robert Galloway: 6-1, 3-6, 10-8 the final score.
