Rome, Aug. 11 (LaPresse) – A year and a half after Indian Wells 2024, Luca Nardi (ATP No. 98) has just clinched his second third-round berth in a Masters 1000 tournament. He did so exactly as he did in California (where, after also defeating Novak Djokovic, he was stopped in the round of 16), as a lucky loser, beating 24th seed Denis Shapovalov (world No. 30) at the Cincinnati Open with a score of 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4. This was a very encouraging performance for Nardi, who, on his return after his first-round defeat at Wimbledon at the hands of Jannik Sinner, had not won two consecutive matches on the major circuit since last February at the ATP 500 in Dubai. Overall, this is his eighth ATP victory in 2025, and in the third round he will face Jakub Mensik, world No. 17 and seeded 16th. In hindsight, Nardi could have closed out the match much earlier, having lost the first set despite a chance to close it out at 5-3 and a wasted service game at 5-4. However, it was his serve (zero breaks conceded) that made the difference between him and his opponent, who was extremely error-prone (59 unforced errors compared to Nardi's 35) and also affected by a leg muscle problem in the third set.
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