Tennis: Superchallenger of Cagliari, an edition to remember
From Humbert's victory, to the "Sardinian" Djere, from Zeppieri to the Gojo bomber, up to Sanna
It ended on Sunday, with the victory of Ugo Humbert, the Superchallenger of Cagliari, on the clay courts of the Monte Urpinu club. A tournament in the new ATP 175 category, the first in history held in Italy, which sanctioned the eighth success at Challenger level for the French tennis player.
But it was a tournament that made other protagonists known or rediscovered, starting with the Serbian Laslo Djere, who will probably take citizenship in Sardinia: after the victory in the ATP 250 of Forte Village 2020 and the final in the ATP 250 of Cagliari 2021 , reached the final again at the Sardegna Open.
A Sardinia Open that saw one of the first performances on clay by Ben Shelton, the not yet 21-year-old American who, after the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, faced European clay for the first time this year. Thanks to the Cagliari semi-final (for him the fifth participation in a European tournament on clay) he reached his best ranking: 35th.
And then again the Croatian bomber Borna Gojo (32 aces in three matches, with hits over 220 km/h), Giulio Zeppieri, best Italian of the tournament with participation in the quarterfinals, and the Japanese Taro Daniel, who with Humbert played the fourth longest challenger match ever (4h13'), under the eyes of those who had played one just 6' shorter (tournament director Paolo Lorenzi and Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, coach of Alessandro Giannessi and Thiago Monteiro) .
We can't forget the performance of Mattia Bellucci, who lit up the first evening of the tournament by beating the former World Top 10 Diego Schwartzman in comeback.
Up to the Austrians Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler who, beating the Argentinian favorites Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in the final, won the doubles title, a specialty too often overlooked, but decidedly spectacular when there are those who know how to play it on the field .
Not to forget the only Sardinian in the race, Alberto Sanna, who took part in the tournament thanks to the victory in the previous Open played on the same fields, those of Tc Cagliari, a club that sees him among its bearers.
And from the day after, almost all the protagonists flew to Rome for the 80th edition of the Internazionali Bnl d'Italia. The red season continues.
