PARMA-MONTECHIARUGOLO, June 16, 2022
The ATP Challenger Tour is back in Italy this week for the Emilia-Romagna Tennis Cup. The €134,920 clay-court tournament is held in the heart of Emilia at the Tennis Club President in Montechiarugolo, located about 80 kilometres northwest of Bologna and about 13 kilometres southeast of Parma.
The spacious venue with a large green area, a club house and an outdoor swimming pool hosted an ATP Tour 250 as well as a WTA Tour 250 event last year.
Four players completed the quarterfinal line-up on on a sunny and hot Thursday in northern Italy. With temperatures up to 30 degrees Celsius, the players not only had to cope with their opponents but also with the tough weather conditions. Local wild card entry Giulio Zeppieri delighted his home crowd with an impressive 6-3, 6-4 second-round win over No. 8 seed Thiago Monteiro from Brazil.
In an all-lefty affair, the 20-year-old from Rome saved the only break point he faced and capitalized on two of his own four break-point opportunities to prevail after one hour and 25 minutes.
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“I served very well, played aggressive points, also on the return games,” Zeppieri told Tennis TourTalk. “It’s the second ATP Challenger 125 tournament in Italy in a row. That’s very good for us. I received a wild card and made it into the quarterfinal. I am very happy.”
Asked about his strengths on the court, the World No. 173 replied: “I have a big serve and a big forehand. I prefer to play aggressive and like to go for the winners. I practice in Rome and together with my coach we work a lot on my game.”
Zeppieri played his first main draw at a major at Roland-Garros this year but lost after a tough three-set fight against Hubert Hurkacz from Poland.
“Playing in Paris was an incredible experience,” the youngster said. “I qualified for my first Grand Slam and it was a big chance. I played against Hurkacz and that showed my level of tennis. I could see that I am on the right way.”
Zeppieri will next take on Borna Coric. The 25-year-old wild card entry from Croatia defeated #NextGenATP Italian Flavio Cobolli 7-5, 6-4. Coric, a former World No. 12, needed to undergo a shoulder injury in spring last season, was sidelined from the courts until March this year and dropped to World No. 255 in the ATP Rankings. The two-time ATP Tour champion is trying to get back to his best and showed his class a lot of times when he outpointed Cobolli 73-62 after one hour and 53 minutes.
In the top half of the draw, Marco Cecchinato defeated No. 5 seed Carlos Taberner from Spain 6-2, 6-2. The World No. 206 from Italy sent down six aces and won 78 per cent of his first-service points to advance in one hour and 32 minutes.
Cecchinato will next face Chun-hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei, who edged out No. 4 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. The final encounter of the day lasted two hours and 30 minutes.
