Sports
Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, grit not enough: tricolor doubles out in Doha
Bolelli/Vavassori doubles eliminated in Doha
The men’s doubles draw at the Doha tournament lost already in the first round the only Italian pair in the game: in fact, Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori failed to overcome the duo composed of India’s Rohan Bopanna and Portugal’s Nuno Borges, with the match ending in favor of the latter with the score of 7-6(2), 7-6(4).
In the hour and a half of play played Tuesday, Bolelli and Vavassori answered blow after blow to their opponents, in a match that, excluding the two tie-breaks, never saw a game won on their opponents’ serves, neither on one side nor on the other. What made the difference were the two mini-games, both won convincingly by Bopanna and Borges.
Thus, the run toward a third title in 2025 for Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, who won the Adelaide International in early January, beating the Germans Tim Pütz and Kevin Krawietz in the final, and won the final of the Rotterdam Open last Feb. 9, defeating Sander Gillé of Belgium and Jann Zielinski of Poland.
The Bolelli/Vavassori pair has been competing stably in doubles for almost two years now: five tournaments won (Buenos Aires, Beijing and Halle 2024, Adelaide and Rotterdam 2025), as many lost in the finals (Halle and Umag 2023, Australian Open 2024 and 2025, Roland Garros 2024). Rohan Bopanna, today’s opponent, snatched the 2024 Melbourne Slam title from them, paired with Matthew Ebden.
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The words of Matteo Berrettini after the victory with Novak Djokovic
Matteo Berrettini expressed all his joy after his two-set victory over Novak Djokovic in the first round of the Doha ATP 500: “Beating Novak è one of the things I aspired to do for years. I have played against him in some of the biggest tournaments in the world, è it was an honor to share the court with him even though I would have liked to win at least one of those matches”.
“I worked very hard to come back here and at this level, all the work done in the last months paid off, today it è showed – added the Roman after the match -. I just missed playing matches, especially like this one. And the most important thing è that I enjoyed every moment”. This is how Matteo Berrettini commented on his first career win against Novak Djokovic, the tenth over a Top 10″.
“Novak è a champion, è always ready to come back and you saw what è happened on the first match point. In those moments you just have to think about winning the next point and è that is what I did” concluded Berrettini who closed the match on the second match point.
The Italian will be back on court Wednesday for a place in the quarterfinals against Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, who beat German Jan-Lennard Struff with a double 7-6.
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Italrugby, defined next fall’s opponents
It was defined on Tuesday the schedule of the Autumn Nation Series, the series of international matches, played on European soil, that characterizes the rugby season calendar. Italy, specifically, will be involved in three test matches, two of them against top-level opponents and one however very difficult, but on paper more within the reach of the men coached by Gonzalo Quesada.
The first match involving the Azzurri will be played next Nov. 8 at 6 p.m.40: the opponent will be Australia, defeated in the last previous one played in Florence November 2022 with a final score of 28-27, with two goals by Ange Capuozzo for the national team and the decisive error from the pitch by Donaldson as time expired, which in fact gave one of the greatest satisfactions to Italian oval ball.
A week later, on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 1:40 p.m., the bar will be raised even higher: visiting the Azzurri will be South Africa, winner of the last two editions of the World Cup and defeated only once by Italrugby, also in Florence, with the final score of 20-18 and Italian goals by Van Schalkwyk and Venditti.
The last test match will be played on Nov. 22 at 9:10 p.m.: opponent will be the national team of the Samoa Islands, which will return to Europe after renouncing the 2024 NSAs for economic reasons: just in Italy, twice in Ascoli (2009 and 2014) and once in Padua (2022) came the three Azzurri victories in the previous 9. The Samoans are no longer, for various reasons, those of the ’90s or early 2000s, but they remain a formation not to be underestimated, so much so that they defeated the very Azzurri in Apia, 33-25, in the summer of 2024.
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Matteo Berrettini beats Novak Djokovic in Doha
After four defeats in as many previous matches, Matteo Berrettini gives himself a decidedly great satisfaction: in fact, the Roman beat Novak Djokovic and thus advances to the second round of the ATP tournament in Doha, the Qatar Open. 7-6(4), 6-2 the final score that rewards Berrettini, always effective in the most difficult moments and able himself to corner his opponent in the key moments.
Rather linear the trend of the first game fraction: neither contender manages to snatch a game on his opponent’s serve, inevitable the tie-break that sees Berrettini immediately go ahead 3-0, then controlling the next points until the final 7-4 that gives the Roman the first set.
In the second fraction Djokovic got off to a bad start and, dropping a game on his serve, saw Berrettini pull away first to 3-0 and then to 5-2. The’eighth game è the good one: Djokovic defuses a first match point with a bunt ball, but Berrettini's determination è stronger and Djokovic goes down on his second match point.
Berrettini had faced Djokovic, before today, on four other occasions, always being defeated: the most prestigious precedent dates back to the final of the 2021 Wimbledon tournament, in which the Roman managed to win the first set before losing, despite himself, the next three. His other defeats came at the 2019 ATP Finals, Roland Garros 2021 and the US Open the same year. Today è the rematch finally came.
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Matteo Berrettini confesses, “Something I’ve wanted to do for years.”
Italrugby, three high-level test matches confirmed in fall
Matteo Berrettini breaks curse: Novak Djokovic goes knockout.
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