Lorenzo Musetti was unable to give one last great joy to the many Italian fans present in the stands of the Sardinia Open. At Challenger 175 in Cagliari it was Mariano Navone who raised his arms to the sky and celebrated the title after a great performance against the Italian, who tried to fight but had to give up.
It was the first set that essentially made the difference and proved decisive, lasting an hour and 9 minutes. A battle in which the two absolutely did not hold back: the Tuscan lost serve twice in a row at the start and was forced to follow in the score.
down 5-4, with courage and determination, the 22 year old from Carrara put everything back in balance. Immediately afterwards, however, Musetti ended up 0-40 down in the most important serve and with the advantage the South American took advantage of the fourth break point and took a break lead.
Navone then knew how to handle the pressure and took the set 7-5. In the second the Italian didn’t have the strength to react and try to change the momentum of the match. From 0-1, a game won with difficulty by the athlete trained by coach Tartarini, the Argentine took full control of the match and never left a game to his opponent again.
With a clear 6-1 Navone closed the practice and obtained the first trophy of the season, after losing the finals at the Challenger in Buenos Aires and in Rio de Janeiro respectively. It remains a good week for Lorenzo Musetti in view of the appointment of the Internazionali Bnl d’Italia: in Rome he will make his debut on Friday or Saturday and will now have a few days to rest and recover some precious energy.
Navone has gained another 10 positions in the ATP rankings and moved up to 31st place (best ranking): the Italian is just 76 points away.
