Arnaldi hit, remounted and beat a Top 10! Now there'is Jodar

Full-throated applause for Matteo Arnaldi: the Italian tennis player beat Top 10 Alex De Minaur in the first round of the Internazionali d’Italia in Rome, centering the qualification to the second round of the tournament.

The 25-year-old Ligurian player overcame the Australian in a comeback in three sets with the scores of 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4 managing to score for the sixth time in his career a victory against a tennis player in the Top 10 of the ATP ranking.

The grueling marathon saw the Blue excel against the number 6 seeded player: Arnaldi after losing the first set managed to win the second in a hard-fought tie-break that ended 7-5, then he also prevailed in the third earning a great victory in front of the home crowd. Very badly De Minaur, who was eliminated after 37 free errors, while thanks to this success Arnaldi re-enters the top 100 ranking.

In the second round the Ligurian tennis player will face rising star Rafael Jodar, who overcame Portuguese Borges in two sets with the partials of 7-6, 6-4. The promising Spaniard is now one step away from the top 30 and has joined his peer Joao Fonseca, 29th. After a poor start to the season, Arnaldi regained his confidence by winning the Cagliari Challenger, which gave him the boost to face the Internationals in the best possible way.