The 33rd edition of the Internazionali di Tennis San Marino Open, an ATP Challenger 125 event, officially gets underway this week on the clay courts of the Centro Tennis Cassa di Risparmio di Fonte dell'Ovo, with the main draw starting on Monday 27 July.
Saturday's draw ceremony produced several intriguing first-round matchups, headlined by an all-Italian derby between Andrea Pellegrino and wild card Carlo Alberto Caniato. Pellegrino, runner-up at the event in 2023, arrives in San Marino on the back of an impressive season that saw him reach the fourth round of the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome — eliminating Arthur Fils and Frances Tiafoe before losing to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner — and qualify for Roland Garros. Caniato, a 20-year-old wild card who trains at Villa Carpena Forlì, faces a tough test on his main-draw debut.
The top seed is Argentina's Facundo Diaz Acosta, currently ranked just outside the world's top 100 and the winner of four Challenger titles already in 2026. He will begin his campaign against a qualifier. Second seed Otto Virtanen of Finland opens against wild card Filippo Romano, while 2024 champion Alexandre Muller of France faces Stefano Napolitano.
Another all-Italian first-round clash features Marco Cecchinato — the tournament's 2013 champion and a former Roland Garros semi-finalist (2018) who climbed to a career-high world No. 16 — against Italo-Argentine Franco Agamenone. Cecchinato recently reached the final of the Milan Challenger and returns to the courts where he won his first major professional title.
Former world No. 16 Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia starts against Serbia's Laslo Djere (a former world No. 27) in one of the most compelling openers. Other Italian hopes include Francesco Maestrelli, who faces Austria's Lukas Neumayer, and 18-year-old Jacopo Vasamì, another wild card and former ITF junior world No. 2, who awaits a qualifier.
This year's edition carries a prize fund of €203,900 and introduces electronic line calling for the first time, replacing traditional line judges. Coverage is available on SuperTennis from Tuesday.
Luca Nardi withdrew before the draw due to an adductor problem.
Sources
- https://www.ubitennis.com/blog/2026/07/25/challenger-di-san-marino-tutto-pronto-entry-list-di-livello-occhio-di-falco-elettronico-e-tre-wild-card-a-giovani-azzurri/
- https://www.ubitennis.com/blog/2026/07/26/challenger-san-marino-il-tabellone-pellegrino-caniato-al-primo-turno-ce-anche-cecchinato/
