Sonego survives Michelsen test at Cagliari Challenger

Lorenzo Sonego pulled off a late comeback Wednesday at the Sardegna Open in front of a vocal home crowd to stay alive at the ATP Challenger Tour 175 event in Cagliari, Italy. The 28-year-old tallied six consecutive games from 0-3 in the decider to beat #NextGenATP American Alex Michelsen 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

“In the third set when I was 0-3 down, I started serving good again and played my game. I’m very happy with the way I turned the match in my favour," said Sonego, No. 52 in the PIF ATP Rankings, who next faces Emilio Nava. "I really like the conditions here. It suits my strengths. It was very slow, especially because it was a bit late, so it was even slower than during the day.

“The crowd was the key to win the match. Maybe in another situation, I wouldn’t find the strength to win the match. But with this crowd, I found all the energy I needed to rally and win the match.”

Sixth seed Marton Fucsovics advanced after Italian wild card Giulio Zeppieri retired with the Hungarian leading 7-5, 4-0. Home favourite Fabio Fognini also was not able to finish his match, sending Federico Coria through to the second round when the Argentine led 7-6(4), 3-1. Coria will next meet top seed Frances Tiafoe.

^{The Sardegna Open in Cagliari, Italy. Credit: Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour}

Marathon matches were the theme Wednesday at the Open Aix Provence Credit Agricole in southern France, where Brandon Nakashima outlasted sixth seed Pedro Martinez 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 after a two-hour, 42-minute hard-fought match.

Serving up a second round 🎾@b_nakashima bounces back from a set down to seal a W against Martinez in Aix-en-Provence#ATPChallenger | @OpenduPaysdAix pic.twitter.com/ar1Tmq2DDO

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) May 1, 2024

The American saved eight of 14 break points faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to earn his 20th Challenger-level match win of the season. Nakashima won the Tenerife Challenger in January and two weeks later reached the final in Koblenz.

Francisco Comesana saved a match point in a three-hour, four-minute battle against Mikhail Kukushkin, defeating the Kazakh 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(6). Arthur Rinderknech ousted Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-3 and Facundo Bagnis defeated Emil Ruusuvuori 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-2.