Wonderful Federico Cinà, first win in a Slam: beat Opelka!

Memorable day for Federico Cinà: the 19-year-old Azzurro, who came from the qualifiers, obtained his first career victory in a Slam, overcoming the giant American Reilly Opelka (211 centimeters tall, world number 75) in the first round of Roland Garros. The young Sicilian tennis player won in five sets over the American with the scores of 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, at the end of a match that lasted almost three and a half hours. Cinà thus became the second youngest Italian to win a match in a Slam after Jannik Sinner.

The challenge against his star-studded rival was epic: after losing the first set 6-3, the Azzurro took the American’s measure and won the second 6-4 by getting the break in the tenth game, and the third set 6-2 thanks also to the American’s errors.

In the fourth set Opelka regrouped and took the challenge to the tie-break, which he won 8-6, but Cinà held his nerves and did not collapse: the last partial was favorable to the Palermo man, who immediately got a break in the first game and then defended it by saving three break points in the last game and closing 6-4 set and match.

Thanks to this historic victory, Cinà advances to the second round of the draw, where he will face the winner of the match between Swiss veteran Wawkrinka and Dutchman De Jong.

For Cinà, world number 238, this victory represents the crowning achievement of a season in constant growth. The Palermo native had already made headlines earlier this year when he won his first career Challenger title in Pune, where he nullified a whopping five match points to Felix Gill in the third-set tie-break. “Winning the first Challenger title by annulling five match points makes everything better,” the young Sicilian had said after that triumph. “Compared to last season, I feel stronger in the management of the match, I am trying to fight all the time and I enter the court with the goal of playing all the points and staying in the match until the end.”