Last Wild Card in Ortisei goes to Federico Arnaboldi - Four South Tyroleans play qualification
Mattia Bellucci slipped directly into the main draw of the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena Südtirol at the last moment. Thus, one of the three wild cards in the Main Draw has become free. It now goes to 22-year-old Federico Arnaboldi from Como, currently number 469 in the world rankings. The Italian Tennis Federation had already awarded wild cards to Luca Nardi and Stefano Travaglia on Friday.
The last two wild cards for the qualifying, which starts on Sunday at 10 am, were also distributed today. In total, four players from South Tyrol will play in the qualifying rounds of the most important tennis tournament in our country. After the two players from Val Gardena, Gabriel Moroder and Patric Prinoth, Jonas Greif from Caldaro and Nicola Rispoli from Merano also have the chance to play against professionals in Ortisei.
The tournament in Val Gardena/Gröden, which will see its 13th edition next week from Monday to Sunday (24 to 30 October), will also be Andreas Seppi's last professional tournament. The 38-year-old from Kaltern will end his great career in front of his home crowd. Seppi is the only player to have won twice in Ortisei (2013 and 2014). In 2012 he was in the final and in his last appearance so far in 2017 he was still in the quarter-finals. The crowd favourite will play his first round match on Tuesday, 25 October (2nd match after 5pm). Who he will play will be revealed by the draw for the main draw, which will be made after the qualifying draw (Saturday at 6pm).
The tournament organisers will hold a celebration in honour of Seppi on Friday, 28 October at 8.30pm. "We hope that in addition to his family and friends, many fans will be there," says OC head Ellis Kasslatter.
The doubles draw was already made this afternoon, with Denys Molchanov/Aisam-Ul Haq Qureshi (Ukraine/Pakistan) seeded No. 1. Thanks to a wild card, the South Tyroleans Moroder/Prinoth and Greif/Rispoli are also in the draw.
