Matteo Arnaldi – Photo Getty Images
As the world celebrated the start of the new year for Italian tennis players Matteo Arnaldi and Lucia Bronzetti It was a New Year’s Eve full of obligations and bad luck because of the bad weather. Both had crucial moments in their games in Brisbane, but rain had the final say, forcing the games to be suspended.
Arnaldi, who is taking part in the ATP 250 tournament in Brisbane, faced an exciting challenge against the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics. Despite a close fight, the Ligurian lost the first set in a tiebreak, with Fucsovics breaking the decisive serve to make it 5-5. With the score 1-0 against Arnaldi in the second half, rain interrupted the game just as the Italian tennis player was leading 15-0 on his serve.
For Lucia Bronzetti the situation at the WTA 500 tournament seemed to be more favorable. The tennis player was ahead against American Ashlyn Krueger after winning the first set 6-4. However, Krueger had just broken to take a 3-2 lead in the second half and was preparing to serve when rain ended the day’s play.
The two meetings were therefore postponed to Tuesday, January 2nd. Arnaldi will try to come back and redeem himself, while Bronzetti will have to defend against Krueger’s attempts to reverse the outcome of the game.
Meanwhile, the first day of 2024 has already brought the first surprise: the defeat of the American Ben Shelton against Russian Roman Safiullin in a hard-fought match that ended 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3. Another notable event was the Japanese champion’s return to competition Naomi Osaka after maternity leave, where she defeated the German Korpatsch with a score of 6-3, 7-6(9).
Pat Rafter Arena – ET: 2:00 a.m. (local time: 11:00 a.m.)
1. Yannick Hanfmann 
vs [5] Sebastian Korda 
2. [14] Sofia Kenin vs [WC] Arina Rodionova 
(not before 3:30 a.m.)
3. Anna Kalinskaya vs [8] Victoria Azarenka
4. [Q] Dominic Thiem 
vs [WC] Rafael Nadal 
(not before 9.30 a.m.)
5. [WC] Kimberly Birrell vs [Q] Olivia Gadecki (not before 11:00 a.m.)
Show Court 1 – Italian time: 02:00 (local time: 11:00)
1. Linda Noskova 
vs [Q] Timea Babos 
2. Matteo Arnaldi 
against Marton Fucsovics (not before 03:00)
3. Thanasi Kokkinakis vs [WC] Rinky Hijikata
4. [Q] Alex Michelsen vs [4] Hugh Humbert 
5. [Q] Hailey Baptiste against Danielle Collins
6. Mirra Andreeva vs [4] Lyudmila Samsonova
Show Court 2 – Italian time: 02:00 (local time: 11:00)
1. [Q] Luke Klein 
vs [6] Sebastian Baez 
2. Lucia Bronzetti against Ashlyn Krueger (not before 03:00)
3. [8] Aslan Karatsev vs [WC] Jason Kubler
4. [Q] Zeynep Sonmez 
against Clara Burel
5. [Q] Julia Riera against Viktoriya Tomova 
6. [6] Veronika Kudermetova vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
10th place – Italian time: 02:00 a.m. (local time: 11:00 a.m.)
1. JJ Wolf vs [Q] James Duckworth
2. [7] Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs [Q] Tomas Machac
3. Magda Linette 
/ Bernarda Pera vs [OSE] Fang Hsien Wu 
/ Lin Zhu 
4. [WC] Daria Kasatkina / Daria Saville vs [2] Hao Ching Chan / Giuliana Olmos 
5. Ekaterina Alexandrova / Anna Kalinskaya vs. Tereza Mihalikova / Yifan Xu (not before hours: after appropriate rest)
14th place – Italian time: 02:00 a.m. (local time: 11:00 a.m.)
1. Welcome Minnen 
/ Heather Watson 
against Caroline Dolehide / Peyton Stearns
2. [8] You were Hozumi 
/ Makoto Ninomiya vs [OSE] Anastasia Potapova / Yana Sizikova
3. Jordan Thompson against Aleksandar Vukic
4. Cristina Bucsa / Alexandra Panova vs. Naiktha Bains / Oksana Kalashnikova 
5. [OSE] Sofia Kenin / Asia Muhammad vs [OSE] Ashlyn Krueger / Sloane Stephens (not before hours: after appropriate rest)
6th place – Italian time: 02:00 a.m. (local time: 11:00 a.m.)
1. [Q] Li Tu against Daniel Altmaier
2. Romain Arneodo 
/ Sam Weissborn vs [PR] Marcus Daniell 
/ Michael Venus
3. Maxim Cressy / Marton Fucsovics against Andreas Mies / John Patrick Smith
4. [WC] James Duckworth / Christopher O’Connell vs Matteo Arnaldi / Tomas Martin Etcheverry
Marco Rossi
