TURIN/STARNBERG, May 15, 2025

Luca Nardi‘s tennis talent has been known to the wider public for quite some time, but it hasn’t always come through with the kind of intensity he showed on Tuesday night in Turin. Making his debut at the third edition of the Piemonte Open Intesa Sanpaolo – a premium ATP Challenger Tour 175 event – the 21-year-old from Pesaro displayed both a brilliant technical level and impressive mental strength in his dramatic win over Argentina’s Mariano Navone, who was ranked in the Top 30 less than a year ago.

Nardi raced to a 6-1, 4-1 lead with high-level tennis, seemingly in full control of the match. However, the encounter turned wild from there. Navone clawed his way back to take the second set and held the upper hand for much of the decider, even serving for the match at 5-4. Nardi managed to break back (5-5), but was then forced to leave the court for a toilet break – one that was not authorized at that moment. As a result, he received three penalty points for consecutive time violations, each after the 25-second limit.

Upon returning to court facing triple break point at 0-40, Nardi lost his serve again, appearing on the verge of defeat. But he showed remarkable resilience, broke Navone back to force a deciding tiebreak, and played it flawlessly to win 7-2. After two hours and 51 minutes of drama, he sealed one of the most bizarre and hard-fought victories of his career: 6-1, 5-7, 7-6.

Moving

Luca Nardi digs deep to get past Navone 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(2) in Turin#ATPChallenger | @federtennis pic.twitter.com/ErZckE49Pz

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) May 14, 2025

With this win, Nardi became the sixth Italian player to reach the second round on the red clay of Circolo della Stampa Sporting, joining Flavio Cobolli, Luciano Darderi, Federico Arnaboldi, Fabio Fognini, and Francesco Passaro. Next up for the newly crowned Top 100 player is another Argentine, fifth seed Camilo Ugo Carabelli. Their match is scheduled as the second encounter on Court 4 on Thursday, not before 1:00 p.m.

Wednesday Results 

Singles – First Round

Yunchaokete Bu (CHN) def. Giovanni Fonio (ITA) 7-6, 6-4

Vitaliy Sachko (UKR) def. Eliot Spizzirri (USA) 6-2, 6-3

Daniel Altmaier (GER) def. Andrea Pellegrino (ITA) 6-3, 6-4

Fabio Fognini (ITA) def. Oleg Prihodko (UKR) 7-5, 6-4

Camilo Ugo Carabelli (ARG) def. Otto Virtanen (FIN) 6-3, 6-2

Francesco Passaro (ITA) def. Federico Agustin Gomez (ARG) 7-6, 6-7, 6-3

Luca Nardi (ITA) def. Mariano Navone (ARG) 6-1, 5-7, 7-6

Doubles, First Round

Barrientos/Hidalgo (COL/ECU) def. Gonzalez/Krajicek (MEX/USA) 6-3, 6-3

Haase/Jebens (NED/GER) def. Cornea/Drzewiecki (ROU/POL) 4-6, 7-6, [10-7]

Behar/Vliegen (URU/BEL) def. Vasamì/Carboni (ITA/ITA) 6-4, 6-2