pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/mattia-bellucci/b0gg/overview'Mattia Bellucci/a will never forget the past weekend./p
pIt all started in Atlanta, where the 23-year-old qualified for an ATP Tour event for the first time and took advantage by winning his first two tour-level matches and reaching the quarter-finals. That in itself was normal./p
pThen came his quarter-final Friday evening against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/arthur-rinderknech/rc91/overview'Arthur Rinderknech/a. Due to rain, their clash did not end until nearly 1:30 a.m. local time, when Rinderknech prevailed in three sets. In the early hours of Saturday morning, the Italian knew he had to quickly travel to Washington for his first-round qualifying match at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/washington/418/overview'Mubadala Citi DC Open/a later that day./p
pldquo;I said, 'I'm going to take the earliest flight to go there, and then I'll try to sleep there'. And the earliest one was at 5:30 a.m,rdquo; Bellucci told ATPTour.com. ldquo;I basically just went back to my room, I packed and we went directly to the airport, so I didn't sleep at all. And then we got to Washington around 8 a.m., maybe 8:30.rdquo;/p
pUpon his arrival, Bellucci ate breakfast because he had still not eaten. From 9 a.m. until noon, he slept. /p
pldquo;Then I went to the club, I had lunch, and I hit for like 30 minutes, 25 minutes, just to try the conditions, which were completely different from Atlanta, actually,rdquo; Bellucci said./p
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pThat did not stop the three-time ATP Challenger Tour titlist, who defeated a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tristan-boyer/b0ej/overview'Tristan Boyer/a 7-6(6), 6-2./p
pldquo;My mindset was actually to stay completely on what my attitude was on court, because I knew that physically speaking, I was not feeling great. And also about tennis, I couldn't ask much [of] myself sincehellip; I didn't sleep during the night. So I really tried to be as focused as I could,rdquo; Bellucci said. ldquo;But the beginning of the match wasn't the best actually, yesterday, went a break down at the beginning and then managed to break back.rdquo;/p
pBellucci was not thrilled with how he played, but he tried to mentally remain engaged and to pump himself up with shouts of ldquo;Come on!rdquo; without losing too much energy./p
pldquo;Otherwise, I would have fallen asleep, I think,rdquo; Bellucci said. ldquo;When he went to the bathroom, I was seated for four or five minutes. And I was not feeling great, this was between first and second set. It was definitely crazy.rdquo;/p
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pSaturday evening, Bellucci tried to rest as much as possible. On Sunday, the Italian was back at it and battled past a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/leandro-riedi/r0fs/overview'Leandro Riedi/a 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-6(4) in two hours and 47 minutes to qualify for his first ATP 500 event. /p
pldquo;Irsquo;m very, very happy. And about my tennis, I actually feel that, yes, I'm playing good. But these two matches weren't the best. And also in some matches of last week, I wasn't completely happy about it, so that's very, very good [that Irsquo;ve been winning],rdquo; Bellucci said. ldquo;It means that I can improve a lot. And at the same time, I really feel that I have many more solutions than a few weeks ago and a few months ago, mentally speaking. So when I'm in a bad situation, I know how to try to stay focused and how to stay in the match.rdquo;/p
pIt has been a memorable few days for the 23-year-old, who on Monday reached a career-high No. 125 in the PIF ATP Rankings. He will face American a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/mackenzie-mcdonald/mk66/overview'Mackenzie McDonald/a on Monday in the first round of the Washington main draw. /p
pldquo;I qualified for the first time in ATP event, then won the first time my first match, then first quarter-final, and right now qualified for my first 500 event, so I'm very, very happy,rdquo; Bellucci said. ldquo;I will obviously try to keep going and embracing it as much as I could.rdquo;/p
p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p
