Matteo Arnaldi has determinedly qualified for the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 tournament in Barcelona, managing to get the better of the Argentines Sebastian Baez and Marco Trungelliti after the withdrawal of the Frenchman Arthur Cazaux on his debut. Now the bar will rise terribly for the Italian tennis player, called to face Casper Ruud on the Catalan red clay. The Norwegian defeated the Frenchman Muller and the Australian Thompson in two sets, with the absolute ease worthy of the number 3 seed in the draw.
It promises to be an extremely challenging task for the 23-year-old from Liguria, currently number 40 in the ATP rankings and on the rise. Our standard bearer in fact, he will have to deal with the 25-year-old Scandinavian, number 6 in the world and extremely solid on this surface. Matteo Arnaldi will have to invent a magic if he wants beat a top 10 player and deserve the semi-final against the winner of the match between the British Cameron Norrie and the Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
The only precedent between the two players is in favor of the Italianwho prevailed with the overwhelming score of 6-3, 6-4 in the round of 32 of the Masters 1000 in Madrid in 2023. The appointment is for Friday 19 April, it will be the second match on the Rafa Nadal Track (the Central Court) starting at 12.30. The program will be opened by the confrontation between Norrie and Etcheverry.
