SARDINIA: Italian wild card Marco Cecchinato routed Serbian qualifier Danilo Petrovic 6-1, 6-0 Saturday in the Sardegna Open to reach his first final in 20 months.

Cecchinato, a French Open semi-finalist in 2018, last played for a title when he lost to Diego Schwartzman in Buenos Aires in February 2019.

Petrovic was playing as a lucky loser in place of top-seeded Fabio Fognini, who withdrew before his opening match after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Cecchinato’s opponent in the final will be Laslo Djere, a Serbian who won his semi-final when Italian teenager Lorenzo Musetti retired with an arm injury with the scores at 2-6, 6-2, 4-1.

The impressive Forte Village seaside complex in Sardinia is one of the four new ATP events added to the 2020 schedule as a one-time only event amid the pandemic.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2020