Dream draw at the Piedmont Open Intesa Sanpaolo: 17 top-100 and three of Davis’ heroes. Azzurri ok in qualifying

A scoreboard of similar level would make the organizers of most major circuit tournaments happy. Because the second edition of the Piemonte Open Intesa Sanpaolo, a premium event in the ATP Challenger 175 category which started on Monday with the qualifiers, presents itself with the beauty of 17 players included in the top 100 of the world rankings. A dream parterre that will provide excitement and entertainment on the pitches of the Circolo della Stampa Sporting in Turin, where even three of the five members of the Italian national team capable of winning the Davis Cup last year in Malaga are expected among the big names. The presence of Lorenzo Musetti – first seed – and Lorenzo Sonego had already been confirmed in advance, but at the last minute the request to participate also arrived from Matteo Arnaldi, third Italian in the world ranking (at number 37). The Ligurian born in 2001 received one of the three wild cards available to the organisers, who also accepted the requests of Luciano Darderi and Francesco Passaro, both eliminated on Sunday in the third round of the Internazionali d’Italia, where they were among the main protagonists of the group sky blue. The case of the former is curious: he was regularly registered for the tournament, but at 9pm on Sunday he was automatically removed (by regulation) as he was still busy at the Foro Italico. Thus, the only way to see him on the pitch in Turin was to become a wild card, which he promptly received. Luciano will challenge the Argentine Camilo Ugo Carabelli in the first round, while Musetti, Arnaldi and Sonego will make their debut in the second round on Thursday, as will the Argentine Mariano Navone who won the other Challenger 175 organized by FITP eight days ago in Cagliari.

But the big blue names are not finished: among the top seeds there is also Flavio Cobolli (who is waiting for a qualifier), just outside the young Luca Nardi, who in March in Miami beat world number 1 Novak Djokovic and will challenge in Turin on Tuesday (third match on the Campo Stadio, from 11) the American JJ Wolf. Passaro has instead chosen the Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan, semi-finalist at the Piedmont Open Intesa Sanpaolo in the first edition of 2023, while Fabio Fognini (who won his first Challenger title at Sporting, way back in 2008) will face a player from the qualifiers, with the possibility of a Sanremo derby with Arnaldi in the second round. Also curious is the presence of another former top-10 player, the Belgian David Goffin: should he beat the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas (Tuesday 6pm, Campo Stadio), he would be Lorenzo Musetti’s first opponent in Turin. There will also be three other first round matches on Tuesday: Rodionov-Coria, Hanfmann-Marterer and Nakashima-Nishioka.

While waiting for the start of the main draw, the matches of the first of the two qualifying rounds were played on Monday in Turin, with 5 Italians scoring. The most precious victory was found by Francesco Maestrelli, who in a comeback (2-6 7-5 6-3 the score) eliminated the no.6 seed Hugo Dellien on the Stadium Field. On Tuesday the Pisan will play for access to the main draw against Matteo Gigante (6-2 6-4 to Gianluca Bellezza Quater). The other derby of the day instead rewarded Andrea Pellegrino, promoted against the other wild card Denis Spiridon and awaiting the match against the Brazilian Felipe Meligeni Alves (6-4 6-1 to Gianluca Mager). Also in the decisive round are the left-handed players Giulio Zeppieri and Mattia Bellucci: the former beat the Australian Sweeny with a double 6-2 and will challenge the Swiss Marc-Andrea Huesler; while the second beat the Russian Ivan Gakhov and will face the Canadian Alexis Galarneau (6-2 6-3 to Peter Buldorini). Tuesday from 11am, on courts 4 and 5, the decisive round. Further information on the website www.piemonteopen.com and on the Instagram page @piemonteopen.

RESULTS
Qualifications. First round: Felipe Meligeni Alves (Bra) b. Gianluca Mager (Ita) 6-4 6-1, Andrea Pellegrino (Ita) b. Denis Spiridon (Ita) 6-2 6-4, Matteo Gigante (Ita) b. Gianluca Bellezza Quater (Ita) 6-2 6-4, Francesco Maestrelli (Ita) b. Hugo Dellien (Bol) 2-6 7-5 6-3, Giulio Zeppieri (Ita) b. Dane Sweeny (Aus) 6-2 6-2, Marc-Andrea Huesler (Sui) b. Otto Virtanen (Fin) 6-3 3-6 6-4, Alexis Galarneau (Can) b. Peter Buldorini (Ita) 6-2 6-4, Mattia Bellucci (Ita) b. Ivan Gakhov 7-6 6-2.

Tomorrow’s program
CHALLENGER Torino 2 (Italy) – Qualifying, clay court
– 11:00 **Galarneau A. ??** – **Bellucci M. ??** -:-
– 11:00 **Zeppieri G. ??** – **Huesler M. ??** -:-
– 12.30 **Gigante M. ??** – **Maestrelli F. ??** -:-
– 12.30 **Meligeni Alves F. ??** – **Pellegrino A. ??** -:-

CHALLENGER Torino 2 (Italy), clay
– 11:00 **Rodionov J. ??** – **Coria F. ??** -:-
– 12.30 **Hanfmann Y. ??** – **Marterer M. ??** -:-
– 2.00pm **Nakashima B. ??** – **Nishioka Y. ??** -:-
– 2.00pm **Nardi L. ??** – **Wolf JJ ??** -:-
– 18:00 **Goffin D. ??** – **Varillas JP ??** -:-

THE INTESA SANPAOLO PIEDMONT OPEN LIVE – It is still possible to purchase tickets to attend the Piemonte Open Intesa Sanpaolo on the TicketOne platform (https://www.ticketone.it/artist/piemonte-open-interno-sanpaolo/), with a 20% discount on the single ticket for FITP members. Coupons are also available at the Circolo della Stampa Sporting, at the ticket office at the entrance to Corso Agnelli 67/a.

THE INTESA SANPAOLO PIEDMONT OPEN ON TV – The Piedmont Open Intesa Sanpaolo matches will be broadcast live and exclusively on the FITP channel, SuperTennis TV (64 on digital terrestrial, 224 on Sky), as well as in streaming on the Supertennis.tv website and on the SuperTenniX digital platform.

?? Challenger 175 Turin – Main Draw – clay
Lorenzo Musetti ?? [1] vs. Bye
David Goffin ?? vs. Juan Pablo Varillas ?? [Alt]
Thiago Agustin Tirante ?? [Alt] vs. Qualifier
Qualifier vs. Flavio Cobolli ?? [6]

Matteo Arnaldi ?? [3] vs. Bye
Fabio Fognini ?? vs. Qualifier
Qualifier vs. Corentin Moutet ??
Camilo Ugo Carabelli ?? [Alt] vs. Luciano Darderi ?? [WC 5]

Yannick Hanfmann ?? [7] vs. Maximilian Marterer ??
Luca Nardi ?? vs. JJ Wolf ?? [Alt]
Yurij Rodionov ?? [Alt] vs. Federico Coria ??
Lorenzo Sonego ?? [4] vs. Bye

Thiago Seyboth Wild ?? [8] vs. Emil Ruusuvuori ??
Francesco Passaro ?? [WC 7] vs. Daniel Elahi Galan ??
Brandon Nakashima ?? vs. Yoshihito Nishioka ??
Mariano Navone ?? [2] vs. Bye