ATP Masters Rome: Lorenzo Sonego - with a dream run to a career high
Lorenzo Sonego surprised the tennis world by reaching the semi-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. The Italian will set his career high in the ATP charts on Monday.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: May 16, 2021, 09:18 am
There was a lot of talk by Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner before the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. And rightly so: Berrettini, the best-placed Italian in the ATP charts, was able to reach the final in Madrid last week. And Sinner is expected to do almost everything these days anyway. From the South Tyrolean's point of view, however, the draw was once again of no help: After Sinner had to face Novak Djokovic in round two in Mont Carlo, this time it was against Rafael Nadal at that tournament stage.
Berrettini, on the other hand, found his master in Stefanos Tsitsipas in the round of 16 and, like Jannik Sinner, will get the final touches for the French Open in Lyon next week. Lorenzo Sonego should have started there too, but after his sensational run in Rome the 25-year-old canceled (with the result that his compatriot Lorenzo Musetti moved into the main field - the Italians are really blessed with many options).
Break chances against Djokovic
Sonego has not been given anything for free in the Foro Italico 2021 - by no means. The start against Gael Monfils turned into an endurance run, only the appearance against Gianluca Mager in round two went smoothly. But then Lorenzo Sonego could have packed his bags against Dominic Thiem, but showed great fighting spirit in the decisive phase of the third set. And finesse.
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The Saturday marathon then ended with the defeat against Novak Djokovic, before that Sonego quickly achieved the next success against Andrey Rublev against a top ten man. Against the world number one from Serbia, Sonego put in a grandiose final spurt in the second set, had three break chances at the beginning of the decisive round when Djokovic served. The third act would probably have been a little different if Sonego had used these opportunities. Even if Novak Djokovic was the better man at Campo Centrale for the entire season.
In Roland Garros against Federer
On Monday, Sonego will be shown at position 28 in the ATP world rankings, thus setting its career high. At 25, he falls into Matteo Berrettini's age group. Sonego has a few years of life and tennis experience on the ATP tour ahead of its compatriots Sinner and Musetti - and may have to address seniors like Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi with "you". So far, Sonego has celebrated two tournament victories at the highest level, racing in Antalya in 2019 and a few weeks ago in Cagliari on ashes.
In 2018 Sonego played its way up to the top 100 on the Challenger Tour, and in the following season it established itself in the double-digit ranking area. And was rewarded in Roland Garros with a match against Roger Federer. At that time, the Swiss went into the game with Lorenzo Sonego as the big favorite - if there is a new edition at the French Open in a few days, the signs will have turned.
Here the single tableau in Rome
rommap