Matteo Gigante, first Italian at the Monza Challenger. Qualifications on Sunday 6 April
The forfeits of three outsiders allowed the 23-year-old Roman to enter directly
Matteo Gigante, 23, opened the season by qualifying for the Australian Open
Always more delineating the participation field for the ATP Challenger Atkinsons Monza Open 25, starting on Sunday on the clay courts of the Royal Villa Tennis. A few days before the start of the qualifying round matches and while waiting for the announcement of the wild cards that will arrive in the next few hours, the organizers have received the forfeit of three outsiders present in the entry list. This is the French Gregoire Barrere, Russian Alibek Kachmazov and German Dominik Koepfer. Defections that allow the direct entry of the first Italian, Matteo Gigante.
The twenty-three year old Roman opened the season in the best possible way, qualifying for the main draw of the Australian Open, where he held his own against the much more experienced Ugo Humbert, winner in three hard-fought sets.
Then he showed himself again on the American concrete of Indian Wells, where he was promoted for the first time to a Masters 1000 (last year he beat Giulio Zeppieri as a wild card at the Internazionali d'Italia) and had the satisfaction of defeat Argentine Sebastian Baez in the first round, before running into Taylor Fritz, who was forced to bring out the best in himself to eliminate him. The tournament in Brianza represents his seasonal debut on clay, a surface on which he has shown in the past that he has the qualities to be competitive.
In the corridors of the club there is no hiding the desire to add more fuel to the fire at the event. Perhaps with the name of Fabio Fognini, who risks dropping out of the top-100 (he is currently number 99 ATP). The Ligurian champion is waiting to see if he will at least enter the qualifications of the Masters 1000 of Monte Carlo, the "home" tournament that he won in 2019, starting on Saturday 5 April: if he doesn't succeed, he could evaluate the idea of a presence in Monza through one of the three invitations available. Or we think of Federico Cinà, the 17-year-old Sicilian is making huge steps on the circuit and arousing great curiosity among fans.