Bitter night for Italian tennis which, within a few hours, lost two leading exponents at the Indian Wells US tournament: Matteo Berrettini and Camila Giorgi, in fact they went out respectively in the first and second round of the Stars and Stripes Master 1000 .
The Roman sinned once again for continuity: the few matches played at the Australian Open weren't enough and in the end he surrendered to Taro Daniel, a Japanese of US origins, number 103 in the world, who won 7-6 (5 ), 0-6, 6-3, signing the second career victory in five direct comparisons. The difference, accounts in hand, was made by the lower percentage of first shots (55% against 59%) and points won with second serve (44% against 58%). Red light also for Camila Giorgi, in the second WTA 1000 tournament of the season (combined with the first ATP Masters 1000 in 2023), with a prize pool of 8,800,000 dollars, underway on Californian hard courts.
The 31-year-old from Macerata, number 46 in the world rankings, winner of the fourth title of her career a couple of weeks ago in Merida, after her debut success in two sets over the Dutch Rus, lost 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, in 1h53' of play, to the American Jessica Pegula, number 3 in the ranking and seeding. The 29-year-old from Buffalo was leading 6-2 in direct matches and had won the last three matches against Giorgi, two of which ended up 7-5 in the third set.
The last success of the Marches in the semifinals of Montreal 2021 when Giorgi would then have won the first '1000' trophy. Meanwhile, the picture for the second round has emerged: the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka easily beat the Russian Evgeniya Rodina 6-2, 6-0 in her debut and will face the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, who overcame the Croatian Donna Vekic with the score 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. Among the top seeds, Cori Gauff and Maria Sakkari also had a good start: the American defeated the Spanish Cristina Bucsa 6-2, 6-4, while the Greek defeated Shelby Rogers 2-6, 6-4, 6- 0.
Gauff's opponent will be 18-year-old Czech Linda Noskova, who beat American Amanda Anisimova 7-6, 6-3. Barbora Krejcikova also did well, fresh from the victory in the Dubai tournament, who defeated the Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska 6-1, 6-2. Jill Teichmann won the Swiss derby against Belinda Bencic 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
