The decisive duel is scheduled for the end of November in Genoa. © Plopp Tennis

TC Rungg snatches a draw from Genoa's starting team

The Überetsch team will have to do without legionnaire Santiago Rodriguez Taverna at short notice and will send three homegrown players into the race against three former top 120 players. The decisive return match in Genoa is scheduled for next Sunday, November 24th.

18 November 2024

From: pm

The first act of the play-off semi-final match between TC Rungg Südtirol Yogurteria and Park Tennis Club Genova in the men's Serie A1 kept what it promised: in front of a magnificent home crowd, the boys led by Manuel and Valerio Gasbarri were able to compete with former top players such as Gainluca Mager (three years ago still number 62 in the world rankings), Marius Copil (2019th in the rankings in 56) and Matteo Viola (formerly number 118 in the world) - and in extremis snatched a 3:3 draw with the veterans.

The Überetsch team had to do without legionnaire Santiago Rodriguez Taverna at short notice, who was in Portugal chasing points to qualify for the Australian Open 2025, was slowed down by several days of rain and ultimately missed the flight home because the match was scheduled too late. This meant that there were three homegrown players in the Rungger line-up: Alexander Weis, Nicolò Toffanin and Maximilian Figl, which was completed by Federico Gaio. Although Weis and Gaio put in strong performances against Mager and Copil and certainly had chances, both lost narrowly in two sets. Toffanin also had to admit defeat against Luigi Sorrentino.

Maxi Figl with brilliant performance

Figl, on the other hand, kept the home team's hopes alive with a statement victory over Viola - so they went into the two doubles matches with a 1:3 deficit. The Ligurians were better in both match-ups for a long time, before both Weis/Bortolotti and Gaio/Figl were able to improve again and, after dramatic tiebreaks, to the delight of their loud supporters, secured a 3:3 that was no longer thought possible. These were the twelfth and thirteenth wins in now 14 doubles matches for TC Rungg, who have thus postponed the decision until the return match in Genoa in a week's time.

Maximilian Figl and Federico Gaio secured the 3:3 final score with their comeback victory in the doubles.

Manuel Gasbarri, visibly emotional after converting the match point to tie the match, was extremely satisfied with his players: "I have to pay a huge compliment to all my players. In the men's game, the short-term absence of Santiago Rodriguez Taverna complicated everything. We were without our legionnaire and played with three home-grown players in a national play-off match in the top division. A huge compliment goes to Figl, who practically kept the matchday alive with his individual success. Hope remains, even if we know that we are not the favorites in the return match."