Lorenzo Musetti will renew his rivalry with Matteo Arnaldi in an all-Italian first-round encounter at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, the ATP 500 hard-court event in Washington, D.C., following Friday's main-draw ceremony.
Musetti, the world No. 17 from Carrara, returns to competitive action after more than two months away from the tour. His last match came in the Rome Masters third round, where he fell to Casper Ruud in straight sets. He subsequently withdrew from Roland Garros and skipped Wimbledon entirely — a two-month hiatus that has raised questions about his readiness for the North American hard-court swing.
The 24-year-old Italian holds a commanding 3–0 record in his head-to-head series with Arnaldi, though the two have not met since 2023. Arnaldi, currently ranked just outside the world top 40, has shown steady improvement on hard courts over the past 18 months and will see this opener as a genuine chance against an opponent coming in cold with no competitive match practice since May.
The winner of Monday's match will face a qualifier in the second round, with sixth seed Frances Tiafoe looming as a potential quarter-final opponent. The American, twice a semi-finalist in Washington, opens against Frenchman Terence Atmane.
The draw at Rock Creek Park is headlined by top seed Alex de Minaur, who begins his tournament against wild-card entrant Stefanos Tsitsipas in what could be the most eye-catching first-round match of the entire week. Taylor Fritz, seeded third, debuts against Belgium's Zizou Bergs in the same upper half, alongside seventh seed Jakub Mensik.
Second seed Ben Shelton anchors the bottom half, opening against American wild card Ethan Quinn. Wild cards Jack Draper and Kei Nishikori add further depth to the field in a section that also includes Learner Tien [5] and Arthur Fils [8].
The DC Open runs from July 27 through August 2 at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.
Sources
- https://www.ubitennis.com/blog/2026/07/25/atp-washington-musetti-trova-subito-arnaldi-derby-azzurro-al-primo-turno/
