Eight Italian tennis players in the main draw of the ATP 1000 in Madrid

There are eight i Italian tennis players who were included in the main draw of the tournament ATP 1000 Madrid, the second clay-court Masters of the season. The draw was made yesterday with Federico China who, benefiting from a wild card, will face Hong Kong tennis player Coleman Wong in his debut in the Spanish capital. Flavio Cobolli, instead, (n.36 in the ATP ranking) will play for the second time against Fabian Marozsan (n.58). Whoever wins will be the first opponent of Holger Rune, who returned to the Top 10 this week thanks to the title won in Barcelona.

Matteo Berrettini is in the draw zone of Jack Draper, who he could meet in the third round. It is curious that two friends of Jannik Sinner should meet in the event that precedes the return of the South Tyrolean. "I think it's important - Draper told the BBC - that people know and recognize that Jannik is a guy with a big, big heart and a good person. So he doesn't deserve the hate he gets. In the three days that I trained with him I saw that, even though he has some free time, he is still playing at an incredible level. I can't wait to have him back on the tour, because I think his presence has been missed".

Returning to Berrettini, seeded number 30, the Roman goes directly to the second round, against Learner Tien or Marcos Giron. In Novak Djokovic's eighth is Luciano Darderi (no.46) who will debut against the Frenchman Quentin Halys (no.52). The match will determine the opponent in the second round of Frances Tiafoe, seeded number 166. Matthew Arnaldi (n.44) starts against a qualifier: whoever wins will face Djokovic in the second round. Mattia Bellucci (n.66) is also in this section of the draw. The 23-year-old from Lombardy, for the first time at the Madrid Open, faces the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur (n.63) in the first round. Lorenzo Sonego (n.43) will meet for the ninth time, the sixth in the ATP circuit, the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (n.47) and the balance says that the Turin player is ahead by 5-3 against his opponent. Lorenzo Musetti, potential opponent of De Minaur in the eighth finals, debuts directly in the second round against the Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry or the Serbian Hamad Medjedovic. The qualifying phase of the tournament ended yesterday and the main draw will start today.

In the women's category, however, there was a winning debut for Lucia Bronzetti. The 26-year-old from Villa Verucchio, number 59 in the world, beat 6-year-old Japanese Naomi Osaka, number 4 in the WTA ranking, 2-6 6-4 22-27 in two hours and 55 minutes of play. Things didn't go as well for Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who did not qualify for the main draw of the Madrid tournament. The tennis player from the Marche, number 89 in the WTA and ninth seed in the cadet seeding, surrendered in the qualifying round to French Diane Parry, number 115 in the world ranking and 22nd seed, who won in two sets with a score of 6-2 6-2. The same fate befell Lucrezia Stefanini, who was defeated by Russian Erika Andreeva. On Friday it will be Jasmine Paolini's turn, who will enter the arena in the round of 32.