TURIN/STARNBERG, 7 December 2025
From the miracle escape from relegation in 2024, to last season’s playouts with a team crippled by injuries, to the ecstasy of winning the 2025 BMW Serie A1 Italy’s Men’s Championship – the first national title in the club’s history. The dream became reality for CTD Massa Lombarda at the Circolo della Stampa Sporting in Turin, after a gripping and hard-fought final against long-standing rivals Match Ball Firenze Country Club.
It took seven and a half hours of tennis to seal the triumph, culminating in the decisive doubles victory that delivered the final 4–1 scoreline. The heroes of the day were Lorenzo Rottoli and Jacopo Bilardo, two home-grown talents and the faces of a historic achievement that brings the tricolour back to Emilia-Romagna 14 years after the Castellazzo club from Parma last lifted the trophy. Their success was shared with the hundreds of supporters in the stands and with club president Giorgio Errani (father of Sara), all celebrating a remarkably young team—average age just 23.5—led courtside by captain Michele Montalbini. Alongside Rottoli and Bilardo, the championship-winning squad included Giulio Zeppieri, Francesco Forti, Jacopo Vasamì, Peter Buldorini, Pietro Ricci, Alessio De Bernardis, and Slovakia’s Martin Klizan, who contributed in the group stage but was absent in Turin.
The first point of the day for CTD Massa Lombarda came from 21-year-old Jacopo Bilardo, a key figure all season, having played all 16 possible matches and winning 12 of them. In Turin, he made it 13, defeating Andrea Meduri 6–3, 6–1 in a match he controlled from the opening rally. Bilardo broke decisively at 4–3 in the first set, then tightened his grip and closed out the match in 84 minutes.
The lead lasted only forty minutes, however, as on the adjacent court the 20-year-old Lorenzo Sciahbasi pulled off a comeback to level the tie at 1–1, beating Lorenzo Rottoli 4–6, 6–3, 6–4. Rottoli dominated the early stages, leading 6–4, 3–1, but as soon as Massa Lombarda seemed poised to extend their advantage, the match shifted. Sciahbasi found depth and aggression, while Rottoli’s level dipped, allowing the Match Ball Firenze player to reel off five consecutive games and take the set. The third set followed a similar pattern: Rottoli went up 2–0 with opportunities for 3–0, but Sciahbasi responded powerfully, boosted by an energetic group of Florence supporters. A run of four straight games proved decisive, securing his seventh singles win in eight matches this Serie A1 season.
The new lead for the Romagna team came once again from a local player, Francesco Forti, who defeated Francesco Ferrari 6–3, 6–3. Although the ATP rankings suggested he was the underdog, the 26-year-old from Cesenatico – back to full competition since May after a long injury – read his left-handed opponent perfectly. Ferrari struggled to find rhythm on the GreenSet surface, while Forti played clean, efficient tennis, breaking early in both sets and never relinquishing control, closing the match in 79 minutes for a 2–1 advantage.
Even quicker was Giulio Zeppieri’s victory, the win that brought Massa Lombarda to 3–1. The Italian left-hander celebrated his 24th birthday with a 6–3, 7–6 triumph over Spain’s Pol Martín Tiffon in the battle of the two No. 1 players. Riding a strong end-of-season run that brought him back near the world’s top 100, Zeppieri came out firing, winning the first 15 points of the match and building a cushion that carried him through the opening set. He survived two break points at 5–3 with an ace-ace-service winner-ace sequence. The second set stayed tight until the tiebreak, where Zeppieri once again raised his level, earning a crucial mini-break at 4–4 and sealing the match—his 11th ace marking the perfect birthday gift.
As mentioned, the decisive point that delivered the national title came from Rottoli and Bilardo, who won a dramatic doubles match 2–6, 6–4, 10–7 against Gianmarco Ferrari and Lorenzo Sciahbasi. After dropping the first set quickly, losing all three sudden-death points, the young duo regrouped, surged to a 4–1 lead in the second, and despite being reeled back to 4–4, secured the set with another break in the 10th game. In the match tiebreak, they trailed early but stayed close, and from 5–7 they were flawless, winning the final five points. A brilliant play from Rottoli brought them level at 7–7, then Bilardo took over, contributing heavily to the last three points and finishing with a title-winning smash.
“First of all,” said CTD Massa Lombarda president Giorgio Errani, who received the trophy from FITP board member Pierangelo Frigerio, “I want to congratulate our opponents, who had a wonderful season and played an excellent final. My thanks also go to the Circolo della Stampa Sporting for flawlessly organizing these finals. For us, it’s a unique, perhaps unrepeatable day. We come from a small town in Romagna with around 10,000 inhabitants, and we are Italian champions. All the credit goes to this fantastic group of players—friends on and off the court—who showed incredible team spirit and exemplary professionalism. Thanks as well to our sponsors and to the fans who traveled all the way to Turin; they were not disappointed.”
“It was a long and emotional day,” added Leonardo Casamonti, Vice President of Match Ball Firenze. “We can only congratulate the opposing team, who proved stronger and deserved the title. Despite the loss, our season has been extraordinary. As newly promoted, reaching the final is a remarkable achievement, and I hope it becomes a starting point for the future.”
CTD MASSA LOMBARDA def. MATCH BALL FIRENZE COUNTRY CLUB 4–1
• Jacopo Bilardo (CTD Massa Lombarda) def. Andrea Meduri (Match Ball Firenze) 6–3, 6–1
• Lorenzo Sciahbasi (Match Ball Firenze) def. Lorenzo Rottoli (CTD Massa Lombarda) 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
• Francesco Forti (CTD Massa Lombarda) def. Gianmarco Ferrari (Match Ball Firenze) 6–3, 6–3
• Giulio Zeppieri (CTD Massa Lombarda) def. Pol Martín Tiffon (Match Ball Firenze) 6–3, 7–6
• Rottoli/Bilardo (CTD Massa Lombarda) def. Ferrari/Sciahbasi (Match Ball Firenze) 2–6, 6–4, 10–7
