Nakashima beats Cerúndlo and Báez can with Musetti

The NextGen ATP Finals kicked off this Tuesday at the charming Allianz Cloud in Milan in a lively and carefree atmosphere, the one that is intended to be in this always innovative tournament that is a test bed for the tennis of the future. The first game, in Group A (Carlos Alcaraz’s), was won by Brandon Nakashima, the youngest American in the top-100 (20 years and 63rd in the world), who could with the Argentine Juan Manuel Cerúndolo (19 and 91st): 4-1, 3-4 (3), 4-1 and 4-0 in 1h28.

Cerúndolo, winner this year at the 250 in Córdoba, adapted worse to the conditions of this event that is played on a hard court (it is his first ATP tournament on this surface) without doubles corridors., to the best of five sets won by the first to reach four games, with a tiebreaker if necessary. Nakashima, with more top-level matches behind him, easily scored the first set and the second slipped away in a loose tie-break. But then he resumed the pulse of the game and returned to dominate the Buenos Aires team who train between Andrés Dellatorre and his father, Alejandro Cerúndolo. José Manuel, winner of three Challengers this season, had already lost twice to Nakashima, at the Orange Bowl in 2017 and last year at the Futures M25 in Rancho Santa Fe.

Korda saves the Gaston effect

Sebastian Korda, seed number two, had a very difficult time beating the fashionable French player, Hugo Gastón, whom he beat after coming back from 0-2 and lifting a match ball in the fourth set: 3-4 ( 2), 3-4 (6), 4-0, 4-3 (3) and 4-0 in 2h02. The 21-year-old American and 39th in the world had to work hard to overcome Gaston, who broke into the top-100 after experiencing a fantastic week in Paris-Bercy, where he beat, among others, the Spanish Pablo Carreño and Carlos Alcaraz . This time he was unable to close a victory that he had within reach with a 40-40 in the sixth game of the fourth sleeve (in the NextGen ATP Finals there are no advantages in the deuce). In the end, Korda’s aggressiveness prevailed (34 winners, 10 direct service).

Báez prevails over the local favorite

Sebastián Báez, one of the tennis players who got a place in the NextGen ATP Finals thanks to the resignations of Sinner, Auger-Aliassime and Brooksby, took the opportunity to debut with a prestigious triumph against the local favorite, Lorenzo Musetti, the youngest Italian in the top-100 (19 years and 58th), who has not raised his head since winning two sets against Djokovic at Roland Garros. The Argentine of 20 and 111th in the ranking, very similar in terms of physique to the Small Schwartzman (1.70m), won 4-1, 4-1, 3-4 (5) and 4-3 (5) in 1h39 and he took revenge for the defeat that Musetti inflicted on him three years ago in an ITF junior tournament in Chengdu. Like his compatriot Cerúndolo, Báez had never played an ATP-level competition on hard court, but it was not bad at all. This year has been very good for him in Challengers, with five titles and in Milan he showed why. The boy endured the pressure of the public when his rival tried to come back and did not lose his serve once, while he enjoyed many occasions to break the service to the transalpine.

Results and classifications.