Jódar withstands a tough duel with Arnaldi and advances to the round of 16 in Rome

The Roman fans blow and blow, and their wishes are commands. The clouds finally behave. The weather forecast threatened to blow up the day, but the day goes on on time, orderly and without any mishap. Only one victim, named Matteo Arnaldi, who for twenty endless minutes gets absolutely nothing and suffers it, regrets it, so he looks at the sky: swallow me, earth. Pietà for him, sufferer who invokes and finally receives help, deity to the rescue. Like the clouds, the goddess also listens and attends, and the local tennis player rebels, struggles. He resurrects, although he falls short. He falls, and Rafael Jódar exhales. Sweats and lack of energy, but he holds on. It has been a night of troubles: 6-1, 4-6 and 6-3, after 2h 01m.

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The Madrid native keeps going, riding this happy wave that has guided him to a privileged stratum — he is already among the top 30 — and to the round of 16 of the Italian Masters, where he will face Learner Tien tomorrow (4-6, 6-3 and 7-5 against Alexander Bublik); the American is known, as both met in November in Riyadh; there, victory for the Spaniard, although the title went to the North American, a young master, a 20-year-old left-hander who also shows promise. The circuit continues to renew itself and new faces are appearing, whether Alexander Blockx (21), Dino Prizmic (20), and of course Jódar, the trendy boy who continues to gather arguments, merits and victories.

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