A lot of Italy and a lot of rain at the "Western & Southern Open", the sixth ATP Masters 1000 on the calendar, with a prize pool of 3,028,140 that is being played on the hard courts of Mason, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio (combined with a WTA 1000).
Lorenzo Sonego and Matteo Berrettini win.
Fabio Fognini's match postponed, engaged in the second round against Guido Pella.
He will play today as Jannik Sinner against John Isner.
Sonego, n.27 ATP, in the first round defeated 63 76 (6) the Spanish Next Gen Carlos Alcaraz, n.55 of the ranking, promoted by the qualifiers. No precedent between the 26 year old from Turin and the 18 year old from El Palmar (Murcia). The Turin player will return to the field today for the second round match against the American Tommy Paul, 56 ATP, who overcame 46 63 64 at his debut the Chilean Christian Garin, number 20 in the world: the 24 year old born in Voorhees was won the previous two head-to-head with the Piedmontese, in 2015 in an ITF tournament in Italy (clay) and last year in Rotterdam (indoor hard).
On the other hand, Berrettini entered the race directly in the second round, returning to the tour after a five-week break due to the injury he suffered in the Wimbledon final: the 25-year-old Roman, number 8 in the ranking and 5 in the seeding (he was drawn in the quarter of Tsitsipas), defeated in comeback for 67 (5) 63 75 the other Spaniard Albert Ramos Vinolas, # 49 ATP. An unprecedented challenge also between the blue number one and the 33-year-old from Barcelona.
The blue number 1, who took the field only at 20 local time, served 25 aces and used his slice backhand in the third set against the Catalan southpaw to get his first career victory in the main draw in Cincinnati. In the next round he will meet the winner of the match between his friend Felix Auger-Aliassime, Canadian n.17 in the world who beat in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon before reaching the first historic final for an Italian at the Championships, and the Russian Karen Khachanov , n.30 ATP and silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games.