Pietro Fellin shines at Villa Reale Tennis despite defeat against Gigante

Pietro Fellin left the stadium to applause from the central court Royal Villa Tennis, despite the defeat in the first round against Matteo Gigante. The 23-year-old from Bolzano who trains on the tournament courts with the V-Team playing in the A2 series, was at his first international experience of a certain level in the main draw of a challenger, but he did not look out of place in front of an opponent who in 2025 qualified among the best 128 of the Australian Open and in the recent Masters 1000 of Indian Wells reached the second round, always starting from the cadet tournament. Fellin has shown that he deserves the wild card granted to him by the organizers, with a sparkling game that surprised the Roman, forced to give up the opening set by 4/6. A small lapse at the beginning of the second set turned the challenge around, because Gigante took advantage of the opponent's decline to overturn the score by 6/3, 6/2, without however failing Fellin, whose improvements in recent months are evident, as evidenced by his first career success, which came less than a month ago in theITF Mexican Huamantia.

The other match of the home tennis player William Mirarchi (pictured) was less balanced, defeated in the decisive round of the qualifications. The eighteen-year-old from Villasanta had taken advantage of Gianluca Mager's withdrawal the day before, when he was in a disadvantageous situation. Yesterday he tried to stay in touch with Enrico Dalla Valle, but in the long run the experience of the player from Ravenna prevailed, winning 6/4, 6/2. Federico Arnaboldi, on the other hand, is smiling, who feels at home in Monza because he is of Cantù origins: the cousin of the former pro Andrea beat the Croatian Matej Dodig 7/6(6), 6/2, recovering from a break of disadvantage in the first set.

Today the first round program is completed for a total of 11 matches: in addition to the big match that sees Federico Cinà against the Belgian Raphael Collignon, Dalla Valle-Brunold (Svi), Picchione-Van Assche (Fra) and Vasami-Jubb (Gbr) will also be on the field.

SDS