Cecchinato’s rebirth comes from the Sardinia Open: a good first against Centrale. From Tuesday the main draw, with 4 matches (with tomorrow’s program)

In 2023 Marco Cecchinato was one of the greats expected on the eve, but once he arrived at the Cagliari Tennis Club he was forced to withdraw due to a feverish attack. Twelve months later, however, at the Sardinia Open – a premium event in the ATP Challenger 175 category – the Sicilian showed up with the lights off, forced to play the qualifiers from a ranking (n. 288 ATP) that had not been this low for over ten years . But his tennis still knows how to work and he demonstrated it on his debut at the Centrale, wiping out the Japanese Tatsuma Ito 6-0 6-2 in 55 minutes. A reliable test indeed, given that the Japanese player has announced his retirement at the end of the season and today is engaged primarily as coach of his compatriot Shintaro Mochizuki, who also (curiosity) will be Cecchinato’s opponent on Tuesday at 10am, in the match that is access to the main draw. But the blue has done his part and from Monte Urpinu he aims to launch the rebirth. “I’m in Cagliari to find myself – says the former Roland Garros semi-finalist – in the hardest moment of my career. Last September, after the US Open I decided to take a break for three months: after 15 years of sacrifices I felt the need, I no longer had it. Then, at the beginning of the year I thought about starting again with a new team by moving to Barcelona, ​​but it didn’t work out.” It was a hard blow, but he didn’t give up. “Two weeks ago I introduced myself to Massimo Sartori (his historic mentor, ed.) in Vicenza, telling him that either I would return to training with him or I would stop. Luckily, it didn’t take much for Max and Fabio Silvestri, who will accompany me in the tournaments, to get me back on track. I found the desire to fight and the right attitude again. For me it’s a new beginning: going back won’t be easy, but I’m ready to try.”

Together with Cecchinato, Francesco Passaro and Andrea Pellegrino also reached the decisive round of the qualifiers. The former overcame the Austrian Miedler with a double 6-3 and will challenge the Dutch Jesper De Jong, while Pellegrino tamed Samuele Pieri in a comeback (4-6 6-2 6-0) and on Tuesday – we start at 10am – he will compete for qualification with the Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo. Also on Tuesday at Tc Cagliari the main singles draw also starts, with the first 4 matches on the Centrale starting from 12. Great anticipation for the debut of the Italian Luciano Darderi, number 60 atp and one of the three Italians (with Sinner and Berrettini) capable of winning a title on the major circuit in 2024. Waiting for him in the afternoon is the Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante, his doubles partner in Sardinia. Following the debut of the wild card Francesco Maestrelli, against the Portuguese Nuno Borges. On Wednesday, however, it will be the turn of Lorenzo Sonego, Fabio Fognini and Giulio Zeppieri. Thursday to the top four seeds, competing from the second round. From Tuesday also the doubles main draw, with the Cagliari pair Sanna/Dessì also starting thanks to a wild card. Further information on the website www.sardegnaopen.com and on the Instagram page @sardegnaopen.

CENTRAL – Italian time: 10:00 (local time: 10:00 am)
1. [3] Shintaro Mochizuki vs [8/Alt] Marco Cecchinato
2. [Alt] Juan Pablo Varillas vs Yoshihito Nishioka (not before 12:00)
3. Thiago Agustin Tirante vs [8] Luciano Darderi
4. [7] Nuno Borges vs [WC] Francesco Maestrelli
5. [Alt] Zsombor Piros vs [Alt] Zachary Svajda

FIELD 14 – Italian time: 10:00 (local time: 10:00 am)
1. [4] Andrea Pellegrino vs [6] Juan Manuel Cerundolo
2. Philipp Oswald / Fernando Romboli vs [2] Alexander Erler / Lucas Miedler (not before 11.30am)
3. Radu Albot / Andrea Pellegrino vs Federico Coria / Camilo Ugo Carabelli
4. [4] Constantin Frantzen / Hendrik Jebens vs Nikola Cacic / Bart Stevens

FIELD 2 – Italian time: 10:00 (local time: 10:00 am)
1. [1] Gabriel Diallo vs [5/Alt] Hugo Dellien
2. [2] Jesper de Jong vs [7/Alt] Francesco Passaro (not before 11.30am)
3. Hugo Dellien / Daniel Elahi Galan vs Boris Arias / Federico Zeballos

RESULTS
Qualifications. First round: Gabriel Diallo (Can) b. Orlando Luz (Bra) 7-6 7-6, Hugo Dellien (Bol) b. Hendrik Jebens (Ger) 6-4 6-0, Jesper De Jong (Ned) b. Petr Nouza (Cze) 6-2 6-1, Francesco Passaro (Ita) b. Lucas Miedler (Aut) 6-3 6-3, Shintaro Mochizuki (Jpn) b. Francesco Ferrari (Ita) 7-5 4-6 6-2, Marco Cecchinato (Ita) b. Tatsuma Ito (Jpn) 6-0 6-2, Andrea Pellegrino (Ita) b. Samuele Pieri (Ita) 4-6 6-2 6-0, Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Arg) b. Federico Salomone (Ita) 6-2 6-4.

THE SARDINIA OPEN LIVE – It is still possible to purchase tickets to attend the Sardegna Open on the TicketOne platform (https://www.ticketone.it/artist/sardegna-open/), with a 20% discount on a single ticket (and 10% on season tickets) for FITP members.

THE SARDINIA OPEN ON TV – The Sardegna Open 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.