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Luca Giacomini is the big surprise at the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena South Tyrol, the biggest tennis tournament in the country, which is experiencing its 14th edition this week at the tennis hall in Ortisei. Giacomini has already surprisingly survived the qualifying and today celebrated an unexpected 6:3, 6:4 victory in the first round against Louis Wessels from Germany, who is 356 places ahead of him in the world rankings. The 25-year-old from Padua was happy after the match: "It's the first time since 2019 that I made it past the qualifiers at a Challenger and then reached the last 16. Four years ago I had my best ranking in the world with 460, but then I had abdominal muscle problems and had to take a break for one and a half years after a shoulder operation. Now I hope to come back even stronger," said Giacomini, who will face Illya Martchenko of Ukraine in the round of 16 on Thursday. 

Giornata intensa allo Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena Südtirol, impegnati anche quattro azzurri. Federico Gaio e Francesco Forti sono i primi italiani ad approdare al secondo turno dove si affronteranno giovedì.

The 14th edition of the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena South Tyrol officially opened on Monday evening with three matches in the main draw. Already on the first day, three seeded players were in action. Francesco Maestrelli was one of the favourites, but the No. 4 seed missed two match points on his opponent's serve at 6:5 in the second set and lost 6:4, 6:7 (4) and 1:6 in the evening match against Swiss Antoine Bellier.

The number of Italian players in the draw at the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena Südtirol has risen to eight. On Monday afternoon Luca Giacomini made it through the qualifying round thanks to a fine 7:5, 6:3 victory over Ryuki Matsuda of Japan. The 25-year-old from Padua after Hady Habib overcame another player ahead of him in the rankings, securing three ATP points and a first round match on Wednesday against Louis Wessels (Germany). Giacomini, down 3:5 in the first set, had called the physio at the change of court at 4:5 then the match turned in his favour. For Giacomini it will be the second time in the draw in Ortisei after 2018. Then he was defeated in the first round by a very young Jannik Sinner. 

The Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena Südtirol started on Sunday with the first round of the qualifiers not without surprises. The most unexpected victory of the day came courtesy of Luca Giacomini, who eliminated Hady Habib, the Lebanese world number 350 and the number two qualifier. Giacomini won 7:5, 6:3 and will try to get into the draw on Monday by taking on Japan's Ryuki Matsuda. At South Tyrol's most important tennis tournament (36,000 euro prize money, 50 ATP points for the winner) two local players were also in the field, thanks to a wild card: Patric Prinoth from Val Gardena and Pietro Fellin.