It really lacked nothing to extend the story with another chapter. He doesn’t hold back tears because the failed match point burns like fire. But, recover your calm and lucidity, in any case it will be a tournament to remember with joy for Lucia Bronzetti, who left the scene in the fourth (eighth) round of “Miami Open”, third WTA 1000 of the season (combined with the second ATP Masters 1000 of 2022) with a prize pool of 8,369,455 being disputed on the hard courts of the Hard Rock Stadium facility (the “home” of the Miami Dolphins of NFL football), in Florida, which SuperTennis (and SuperTennix) broadcasts live and exclusively. The Romagna was the second lucky loser to land in the top 16 in Miami after Argentina’s Gisela Dulko (2004). She and she was close to becoming the first blue to hit the quarterfinals nine years after Errani and Vinci (2013).
The 23 year old from Villa Verucchio, n.102 WTA, yielded 57 64 75, after another three hour battle, all’australiana Daria Gavrilova, 249 WTA and on the draw thanks to a wild card, who chose to use the surname of her husband, the “aussie” tennis player Luke Saville. The Romagna has missed a match point in the tenth game of the decisive fraction.
SAV a bit of that ??
???? @Daria_gav comes from a set down to defeat Bronzetti and make the quarterfinals in Miami!#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/F1Oag9ewBM
– wta (@WTA) March 28, 2022
There was no precedent between the Romagna and the 28-year-old born in Moscow, who reached the 20th position in the ranking at the end of August 2017. Lucia started very badly, losing the bar twice in a row (the second after being 40-0 ahead): then she managed to dominate the emotion, and even with the help of a decidedly tricolor ribbon she recovered one of the two break going back below (3-2). Daria-took the field with the colors of Ukraine: blue shirt and yellow skirt-defended the advantage up to 5-3: in the tenth game she reached the double set-point but the blue got four consecutive points catching her on the 5 even. In the eleventh game Bronzetti took a moment to breathe and found herself under 0-40 but won nine points in a row, securing the first set 7-5 against an enraged Gavrilova and definitely too foul with the forehand.
At the start of the second set with an ace Lucia brought her streak of consecutive games to five. Daria managed to stop the bleeding (1-1) and in the following game she took advantage of a couple of indecision of the blue to take her off the beat and then extend to 3-1. In the sixth game Bronzetti missed the opportunity of the 3 equal and in the eighth one for the 4 equal with Gavrilova climbed 5-3 exploiting some errors of fatigue of the Romagna. Lucia kept her serve at zero (5-4) but Daria did the same by signing 6-4 with an ace that allowed her to equalize the score.
Galvanized by the conquest of the second set, the Australian immediately took a break advantage at the beginning of the decisive fraction. Lucia, however, with a partial of eight points to one put things back in place (2-1). Both fought point to point but in the eighth game the blue broke the delay, played an even more aggressive tennis and hit the break going 5-3. In the ninth game Bronzetti came within two points of victory but ended up suffering the counter-break with a crossed forehand that went out by a whisker (5-4). In the tenth game the blue reached the match point but the Australian placed the first on the row and then grabbed it back on 5 all. With a winning streak of seven points in a row she snatched the Romagna-style joke for the second time in a row (this time to zero), taking the lead by 6-5 and shortly after, at the first match-point, she closed the conversation ( 7-5). Nice hug between the two with a moved Gavrilova and a clearly sorry Bronzetti.
