Lorenzo Sonego, Madrid remains a taboo

The Madrid tournament is certainly not Lorenzo Sonego’s favorite hunting ground, and 2025 was no exception: the Turin-based tennis player in fact went out in the second round, losing by two sets to none to Alex de Minaur, who was able to impose himself with a rather clear 6-2, 6-3, in 76 minutes of overall play.

For the second consecutive time, the Masters 1000 in the Spanish capital thus ends in the second round: equaling his personal best result in the tournament, but in other tournaments of the same level the almost 30-year-old (his birthday is on May 11’11) has definitely been able to do better, as demonstrated in Rome 2021, where he reached the semifinals, or in Monte Carlo 2019, where he reached the quarters.

Even so, the match against De Minaur seemed to have started under the best auspices, with Sonego immediately able to win a game on the Australian’s serve: immediate, however, was the reaction of the world number 7, capable of winning six of the next seven games, to launch himself in the best possible way ahead of the second set.

Sonego failed to get into gear in the next fraction, going down 4-1 before a surge of pride at 5-2 allowed him to burn a match point for his opponent. The ninth game was decisive, however: at 40-0 De Minaur had three match points at his disposal, closing out the match already on the first attempt. It will therefore be the Australian who will advance to the third round, where he will find Denis Shapovalov, executioner in two sets (6-1, 6-4) of Kei Nishikori.