Napolitano and Stefanini shine in the grass qualifiers: two Italians in the main draw of ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Nottingham

European grass turns blue thanks to the performance of Stefano Napolitano and Lucrezia Stefanini in the qualifiers of the ATP tournaments in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and WTA tournaments in Nottingham.
Napolitano, after overcoming Yu Hsiou Hsu of China Taipei yesterday, today beat old Dutch glory Robin Haase with a score of 6-4, 7-6(3). The Biella native dominated the tie-break of the second set after wasting a match point and suffering a counterbreak. In the main draw, Napolitano will challenge the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, a difficult match with the Frenchman very comfortable on grass courts.

Md
(1) de Minaur, Alex vs. Bye
(WC) van Rijthoven, Tim vs (LL) Bergs, Zizou
Bautista Agut, Roberto vs (Q) Huesler, Marc-Andrea
(PR) Raonic, Milos vs (8) Thompson, Jordan

(3) Humbert, Ugo vs. Bye
Phils, Arthur vs Cazaux, Arthur
Mensik, Jakub vs (Q) Brouwer, Gijs
(Q) Napolitano, Stefano vs (5) Mannarino, Adrian

(6) Griekspoor, Tallon vs Kecmanovic, Miomir
(WC) van de Zandschulp, Botic vs McDonald, Mackenzie
Purcell, Max vs Vukic, Aleksandar
Bye vs (4) Khachanov, Karen

(7) Korda, Sebastian vs (Q) Schoolkate, Tristan
(WC) Goffin, David vs Nardi, Luca
Popyrin, Alexei vs Hijikata, Rinky
Bye vs (2) Paul, Tommy

Also Lucrezia Stefanini achieved access to the main draw of the WTA 250 in Nottingham. The Tuscan, after beating the British Amarni Banks in the first round, prevailed over the Australian Talia Gibson with a clear 6-4, 6-1. The eight consecutive games won by Stefanini after being down 2-4 in the first set were decisive. For her, this is the eighth grass tournament of her career, a surface on which she reached the main draw of Wimbledon last year. In the first round, Stefanini could face the Japanese-born Briton Yuriko Miyazaki, another qualifier, the Chinese Lin Zhu, the Swiss Viktorija Golubic or the former Slam champion Emma Raducanu.

Marco Rossi