BERGAMO/STARNBERG, November 3, 2022
Jan-Lennard Struff has reached the quarterfinals of the Trofeo Perrel – Faip ATP Challenger Tour hard-court tournament in Bergamo. The World No. 168 from Germany edged past local wild card entry Luca Nardi 6-4, 7-6(1) on Thursday afternoon.
Struff, who is bidding for his second Challenger title of the season following his triumph on home soil at the Brawo Open in Braunschweig in July, withstood nine aces and broke his rival’s serve two times to secure victory in one hour and 54 minutes.
The 32-year-old Warstein native will next oppose Matteo Arnaldi of Italy, a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 winner over Briton Liam Broady.
Vavassori, Rodionov advance
Earlier in the day, Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori cruised past last week’s Val Gardena Challenger champion Borna Gojo of Croatia 6-1, 6-2 in only 58 minutes and will next play second-seeded Portuguese Nuno Borges.
That was fast, @VavassoriAndre ⚡️
In just 58 minutes, the 🇮🇹 defeats Gojo 6-1, 6-2 in Bergamo to reach his 6th #ATPChallenger quarterfinal of the year!
📸: Antonio Milesi pic.twitter.com/sDfT9JSQFu
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) November 3, 2022
Jurij Rodionov of Austria defeated Turkish qualifier Altug Celikbilek 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 20 minutes and will face Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann in the stage of the final eight.
“I think I was more solid than him, always staying positive without worrying about the score,” Rodionov said. “I did a good job, playing point after point, focusing on what I had to do.”
The son of Belarusian parents, Rodionov was born in Germany but moved to Austria when he was three years old, and today he is his country’s second-best tennis player, behind Dominic Thiem.
The World No. 130 played at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna last week, enjoying a good atmosphere in his match against Denis Shapovalov, but was equally impressed by the crowd at the PalaIntred. More than 1,000 people attended Rodionov’s first-round match against Spanish veteran and No. 8 seed Fernando Verdasco.
“It is special that a Challenger has so many spectators. Players at our level are not used to such an atmosphere. I appreciated that the audience and the people of Bergamo come to support the players, I think it’s a spectacular thing,” said Rodionov.
TROFEO PERREL – FAIP BERGAMO THURSDAY RESULTSSingles – Second RoundAndrea Vavassori (ITA) b. Borna Gojo (CRO) 6-1 6-2Jurij Rodionov (AUT) b. Altug Celikbilek (TUR) 6-2 6-4Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) b. Luca Nardi (ITA) 6-4 7-6(1)Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) b. Liam Broady (GBR) 6-4 1-6 6-3Doubles – QuaterfinalsJonathan Eysseric / Albano Olivetti (FRA-FRA) b. Nicolas Barrientos / Sergio Martos Gornes (COL-SPA) 6-2 6-1Denys Molchanov / Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (UCR-PAK) b. Vit Kopriva / Vitaliy Sachko (CZE-UCR) 6-1 6-4Fabian Fallert / Hendrik Jebens (GER-GER) b. Andrea Vavassori / Matteo Vavassori (ITA-ITA) 6-4 6-4Jan-Lennard Struff / Henri Squire (GER-GER) b. Johnny O’Mara / Philipp Oswald (GBR-AUT) 6-1 6-4
