Tennis - Bellucci returns to Japan and aims for the Tokyo draw - Sports - Varese News

After an absence of a few weeks, following the US Open where he played in the second round (defeated by Alcaraz), Mattia Bellucci (photo FITP) returned to the court for an official match and did so in the qualifications of the Kinoshita Group Japan Open , the ATP 500 category tournament in Tokyo.

The left-handed player from Castellanza is the second seed in the qualifiers (tournaments of this kind have only 32 spots in the draw) and therefore must win two matches to be admitted to a main draw that sees Carlos Alcaraz in first place and Taylor Fritz on the opposite side of the knockout grid.

On the hard courts of the Ariake Colosseum, Bellucci overcame the first hurdle by beating a local player, wild card Yasutaka Uchiyama , currently ranked 230th in the world but previously ranked as high as 78th (Mattia is currently ranked 65). It was anything but an easy victory, coming after three closely contested sets: 7-6, 5-7, 7-5 was the final score for the 24-year-old from Varese, who will now face American Ethan Quinn to advance to the main draw.

Quinn is young (21) but has already set foot on the Grand Slam courts this year and has advanced through several ATP-level rounds. A feisty left-handed player from California, Bellucci will have to remain focused to return to the 500th tournament he hasn't played since Acapulco (February). Last year in Tokyo, the Italian made it through qualifying and was stopped by Draper in the first round.

TELEGRAM – THE VARESENEWS CHANNEL DEDICATED TO MATTIA BELLUCCI