Mariano Navone He fought, but he found a rival who imposed his experience and talent on him. In this way, the Argentine, who was living a few dream days, found a brake on his ambitions and was eliminated in the semifinals of the ATP 250 in Marrakech, after falling to the Italian Matteo Berrettini by 6-7, (4-7), 6-3 and 6-2. The result prevented Navone from getting into the top 50 in the world, but his performance these days confirms that he is on the right path.
Born on July 9, 23 years ago, Navone (60th in the ranking) had a very good week, in which he achieved resounding triumphs, such as the one obtained against the Swiss Stan Wawrinka (“One of my heroes”, as he defined it), in the round of 16. In the next phase, he got rid of the Australian Alexsander Vukic (67th).
This Saturday, on the Moroccan clay, he had another tough obstacle against a player who, although he is not going through his best moment, has a lot of experience and talent. Berrettini was number 6 in the world less than two years ago and holds seven ATP titles. Now 135th in the rankings, he shows in his tennis that if he focuses on the game he can quickly regain lost ground.
In the decisive match, scheduled for this Sunday, Berrettini will meet the Polish Hubert Hurkacz (10th in the world), which left the Chilean Christian Garín on the road 6-3, 3-6 and 6-3.
Despite the defeat, the player trained by Andrés Dellatorre confirms that he is facing a season of great growth. He had already warned in February, when he was a finalist in Rio de Janeiro, where he lost to Sebastián Báez.
The appearance of Navone in 2024 has been as dazzling as it has been surprising. Last season, obviously, he made a clic. He had never won Futures, the third professional category, but he directly won five Challenger Tour trophies, the second division of professionalism, and thus earned a place among the top 120 on the circuit, a status that allowed him to gain confidence and begin to think about the future. longed for jump in the hierarchy on the tour (in January, in Australia, he played the qualification of a Grand Slam for the fourth time; he fell in the first round).