Serafini-Oradini-Iannaccone: trio of blue surprises

The first day of qualifying gave great satisfaction to the Italian colours. We will have seven representatives in the decisive round, by virtue of a Sunday that gave us three victories against the odds. In the morning, Marcello Serafini fed Chun Hsin Tseng’s results crisis. Only seven months ago, the Taiwanese was in Milan to play the Next Gen Finals, now he has even dropped out of the ATP top-300, by virtue of a 2023 which saw him win just eight matches. He was still the second seed in the cadet draw and has some experience, although he is yet to turn 22. After winning the first set with difficulty, he got sucked in by the Romagna who is now only one match away from qualifying (he will face the Spanish Alex Marti Pujolras). In the afternoon, Giovanni Oradini signed a fine feat against Carlos Taberner, who was among the ATP top 100 only twelve months ago but suffered an injury that blocked him for four months: Milan is only the second tournament after his return, and perhaps he paid for it in a three-hour match against the Rovereto, who needed a significant result after four eliminations in a row in the first round. Good victory also for Federico Iannaccone: the Molisano arrived on Saturday evening from Bergamo, where he had reached the semifinals in the local ITF tournament, and gradually crumbled the resistance of Marius Copil, uncomfortable on clay and liquefied in the heat of Milan (the temperature fluctuated throughout the day around 30 degrees). His victory guaranteed the only derby in the decisive round, as he will face Andrea Arnaboldi . On Monday the qualifiers will be completed, then the first five matches of the main draw will be played: waiting for the debut of the number 1 of the draw, the Argentine Facundo Diaz Acosta (opposite the wild card Gianmarco Ferrari), while in Casa Italia there is curiosity for the Tuscan-Ligurian derby between Alessandro Giannessi from La Spezia and Francesco Maestrelli from Pisa, as well as the debut of Edoardo Lavagno, who will have a demanding test against Gauthier Onclin. The two matches will be played on the Grandstand court starting at 3pm.