Nakashima survives surprising Italian Arnaldi in tense NextGen Finals clash

Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi brought intensity and a stunning game to Brandon Nakashima on Tuesday at the Next Gen Finals in Milan. Nakashima, playing for the second time at the event, brought home the victory, however.

The American outlasted the Sanremo, Italy native 2-4, 4-3(7), 4-3(4), 3-4(4), 4-2 to improve to 1-0 in group play, clinching his victory in two hours and 10 minutes.

Nakashima, who joins Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic at the top of the Green Group, was a semi-finalist last year in Milan. He improves to 3-2 lifetime at the Next Gen Finals with the win.

He’s still not quite comfortable with the short sets and different rules in play at Milan, however.

“Kind of took me a little while to get used to the new format, the new conditions out here, right from the beginning –I just tried to adapt as quickly as possible,” he said.

Nakashima had to scrape to win sets two in three in tiebreaks, and admitted he needed some luck.

“The tiebreaks, I was kind of lucky to squeeze them out,” he said. “Today, I think it was just all about finding a way out here. He was a super tough opponent, he was playing really well. There were just some critical points in the end that helped me get off the line.

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