Lorenzo Sonego won the “Winston-Salem Open”, an ATP 250 tournament organized since 2011 on the Wake Forest Tennis Complex’s hard courts. The Italian beat Alex Michelsen, a 19-year-old American, number 52 in the world, 6-0, 6-3. For the Italian, it is the fourth ATP title of his career. An hour and 3 minutes of a match without history, played impeccably by the Piedmontese. No Italian tennis player has ever managed to win an Open Era final losing less than three games in the final. Before Sonego, Marco Cecchinato had succeeded in Buenos Aires in 2019 (61 62 to Diego Schwartzman) and Francesco Cancellotti in Palermo in 1994 (60 63 to Miloslav Mecir). For Italy it is the 95th title of the Open Era, the tenth of the year after Sinner’s titles at the Australian Open, Rotterdam, Miami, Halle and Cincinnati, Luciano Darderi’s in Cordoba and Matteo Berrettini’s in Marrakech, Gstaad and Kitzbuhel.
Sonego’s absolute domination materializes in the fourth game when he breaks his rival again for the 4-0. And the match could end here because Michelsen, annoyed, throws the ball to the back of the court inadvertently hitting a spectator sitting in the front row. The chair umpire Aurelie Tourte goes to investigate. There could be grounds for a disqualification, but the match resumes after the player apologizes. Sonego does not lose concentration, goes up 5-0 and then completes the streak for 6-0 with the third break.