Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals—Milan, Italy
In the final of this year’s Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, Italy, Brandon Nakashima defeated Jiri Lehecka in front of a supportive crowd on Saturday.
Needing one hour and 20 minutes to prevail, Nakashima struck 11 aces, won 85 percent of his first serve points and broke serve on two occasions. Hitting 21 winners in total, Nakashima also won seven of 12 points at the net.
Winning $432,000 as a result of his efforts this week, the FanDuel app in Ohio once again proved to be a great source of information throughout the event.
Improving his ranking tremendously throughout the 2022 season, Lehecka also recorded great victories over Dominic Stricker and Francesco Passaro during his stay in Milan. The 21-year-old Czech will be ranked No. 74 to end the season. He also recorded wins over Denis Shapovalov, Lorenzo Musetti and Grigor Dimitrov in earlier events.
Capturing his maiden title earlier this year in San Diego, Nakashima will end this year ranked No. 48.
For Nakashima, his season was full of many memorable moments as well. Defeating Jack Draper and Matteo Arnaldi on his road to the finals, Nakashima also captured victories over Shapovalov and Dimitrov earlier this year.
Nakashima had this to say after his victory: “Another tough match today, and this is a great way to finish the year. I’m very proud of my week here and now I will go back to States and enjoy some time off.”
This week’s event in the exciting Italian city was also the home for many for the innovative trails for the ATP Tour. The 21-and-under singles tournament boasted some great champions in the past, like current world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, Italian Jannik Sinner, Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas and Korean protege Hyeon Chung.
The eight man players field this week took place at the Allianz Cloud stadium over five days.
The ATP Tour will now shift its focus to the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy. This eight player field will showcase the top eight players of the season on Tour. Top seed Alcaraz was forced to withdraw with an abdominal injury, but Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev will be in attendance to fend off the likes of Taylor Fritz, Andrey Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Casper Ruud and Tsitsipas.
The ATP Finals in Turin will conclude the 2022 ATP Tour calendar. The Davis Cup finals in Malaga, Spain from November 23 to November 27 will be the final team event for the top players in the world.
