TennisNH

Nakashima Makes Winning Start In Milan

09-Nov-2021 13:22:00 | ATP World Tour

Brandon Nakashima made a strong opening statement Tuesday in the first match of the fourth edition of the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals.

The American, who is making his debut at the 21-and-under event in Milan, played aggressively to overcome Juan Manuel Cerundolo 4-1, 3-4(3), 4-1, 4-0 to move to 1-0 in Group A.

Nakashima arrived in Milan in form, having captured his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the season in Brest in October. The 20-year-old has now won 10 of his past 11 matches and played with such confidence against Cerundolo as he quickly adapted to the first-to-four best-of-five set format.

In their first ATP Head2Head meeting, Nakashima opened his shoulders and struck the ball with great power to pin the Argentine back behind the baseline. After dropping the second set, the fourth seed raised his level, not facing a break point in the third and fourth sets to secure victory after one hour and 32 minutes.

During a standout 2021 season, Nakashima became the youngest American since Andy Roddick in 2001-02 to advance to multiple tour-level finals when he reached back-to-back championship matches in Los Cabos and Atlanta aged 19. He then defeated Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals alumnus Alex de Minaur en route to the quarter-finals in Antwerp last month.

The World No. 63 will also play Umag champion Carlos Alcaraz and Dane Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune during the round-robin stage in Milan, with Alcaraz and Rune facing each other later on Tuesday in Group A.