Francisco Comesaña moved within one win of the Masters 1000 de Roma main draw on Monday, beating Billy Harris 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of qualifying. He will face Leandro Riedi at 5 a.m. on Tuesday for a place in the traditional Italian event’s main field.
The win put Comesaña one match away from joining a deep Argentine presence in Rome. If he gets through Riedi, he would become the 10th Argentine in the singles main draw, where Sebastián Báez, Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Marco Trungelliti, Thiago Tirante, Román Burruchaga, Mariano Navone, Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, Tomás Etcheverry and Francisco Cerúndolo are already set to play.
Comesaña’s path looks straightforward on paper and anything but on the clay. Riedi, ranked No. 128, reached the final qualifying round by beating Vilius Gaubas 6-4, 6-2 on Monday despite not having played a match on clay this season before that win. He has just over 50% of his career victories on clay, a sign that he is comfortable on the surface even if he arrived in Rome with little match rhythm there this year.
That is what gives Tuesday’s match its edge. Comesaña already handled one test with clean scorelines, but Riedi has arrived fresh enough to make the contest hard to read. The winner does not just move on; he steps into the main draw of one of tennis’s most established events, and for Argentina the reward is another body in a singles field that already carries familiar names and, at the top, two seeded players in Tomás Etcheverry and Francisco Cerúndolo.
Elsewhere in the draw, Etcheverry will face the winner of Román Burruchaga and Mattia Bellucci, while Francisco Cerúndolo is set to meet the winner of Alejandro Tabilo and a qualifier. In Rome, the qualifying bracket is still open, but for Francisco Comesaña the equation is simple: one more win and he is in.
