Italian Teen Federico Cina Secures Second ATP 1000 Victory in Madrid

Okay, so imagine this: a young Italian guy named Federico Cina, not even out of his teens yet, strolls into the Madrid Open and just casually snags his second ATP Masters 1000 win. I mean, I was floored reading about this. It happened Wednesday—I’m betting it was warm, maybe a bit of a breeze because, why not. His opponent? Some dude named Coleman Wong. And Cina just took him down in straight sets. Quick math: that’s two sets back to back. Nailed it.

Anyway, here’s the score: 7-6 (5), 6-1. Not gonna lie, I’m not always glued to tennis stats, but saving both break points against Wong? That’s a big deal—I think? Whatever, Cina’s definitely someone to watch. His first big break was in Miami a little while ago when he beat Francisco Comesaña, who’s ranked 70th. I was like, who’s this kid? But now it makes sense, sort of. He whipped out 19 winners. That’s almost 20 if you’re counting.

And Cina, bless him, he gets all emotional—says he felt a bit tight at first. Like, who wouldn’t be? Playing in such a massive event as a wild card at his age. He’s only 18! I can’t even remember what I was doing at 18. Maybe losing at video games. Anyway—no, wait—I was probably napping. Yeah, that sounds right.

Editor’s picks time! Next up for Cina is Sebastian Korda from the U.S. He tangled with Dimitrov in Miami but didn’t make it past round two. Happens to the best of us, right? This time though, who knows. Oh, and get this, he had a whole mishap—lost straight against some Belgian player, Raphael Collignon, back in Monza. Really, what is it with these names? They’re like music.

Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, Nuno Borges from Portugal decided to give the locals something to gasp about by beating Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta. Looked intense on paper: 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 6-3. Sounds like a rollercoaster. Over on another court, Arthur Rinderknech was busy taking down Roman Safiullin 7-6 (4), 6-1, and then Christopher O’Connell had his moment against Camilo Ugo Carabelli, 6-3, 6-4.

But wait, let’s switch gears to the women’s side of things. Americans were on a rampage. Katie Volynets, Alycia Parks, and Bernarda Pera—they just bulldozed through their matches. Volynets, can you believe it, took down Petra Kvitova—who’s won Madrid three times like it’s as easy as pie—6-4, 6-0. Not even a nibble left on that plate. Then Pera rolled right over Jana Fett with a 6-4, 6-3, like she had somewhere else to be. Parks was doing her thing against Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva with that 6-3, 6-3 scoreline.

And saving one more for you, Maria Sakkari managed to squeeze a win past Xinyu Wang, 6-4, 7-6 (7). Somehow, I feel those numbers don’t tell the whole story, but hey, who am I to judge?

So, yeah, Madrid, clay courts, an international mix of players leaving a mark (or skid marks?)—it’s all going down. Tennis is wild, isn’t it?