Federico Gaio is further. © Roland Strimmer

An azure duel takes place in Val Gardena

On an intensive second day of the tournament at the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena South Tyrol, four players from Italy were also in action in the first round. Federico Gaio and Francesco Forti were able to advance to the round of 16, where they will meet on Thursday.

24 October 2023

From: pm/det

The 31-year-old Gaio, who plays successfully for TC Rungg in Serie A1, lived up to his role as favorite against Maximilian Neuchrist from Austria. Gaio won 6-4, 6-4 late in the afternoon. After fending off four break points in his first service game of the game, he held his service confidently and repeatedly scored nice points at the net against the strong-serving Austrian. In both sets, Gaio broke in the tenth game. Neuchrist ended the game with a double fault.

Gaio after the match: “I'm happy with how I played today. It wasn't easy because Neuchrist serves well and the conditions here are very fast. But I always enjoy coming to Ortisei and I don't deny that I would love to win the tournament here. But I have to take it from game to game.” In the round of 1 on Thursday it will be against Forti for the fourth time this year. “We played against each other in Serie A7 just a few weeks ago,” said Forti after his 6:5 (6), 4:2 over Slovakian Norbert Gombos. “Today was an important win for me against a strong opponent, I didn't allow a single break point and won the tiebreak even though I was 4:4 behind. In the second set I had more chances to break.” Forti used the fifth opportunity for the decisive break to make it 3:XNUMX.

Youngsters with no chance

Lorenzo Carboni was the first Azzurro in action. Thanks to a wildcard, the 17-year-old from Olbia played in the main draw of a Challenger tournament for only the fourth time in his career and was defeated by the Belgian Michael Geerts 4:6, 1:6. Geerts fended off two break points and managed four breaks in return. Stefano Napolitano's exit was a surprise. The number 7 in the tournament won the tournament in Val Gardena in 2016. He was ahead by a break twice in the first set against Billy Harris from Great Britain, but had to admit defeat 5:7 and 3:6.

The first round will conclude on Wednesday with the last three games, but there are also the first four round of 16 games and six first round doubles games on the program. Admission to the tennis hall in Ortisei is free.