Brilliant Berrettini stuns Djokovic to reach Qatar Open second round

Matteo Berrettini advanced to the second round of the Qatar Open with a stunning upset of Novak Djokovic, beating the No 3 seed 7-6 (4), 6-2 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha.

The Italian earned his first ever win over the 24-time Grand Slam champion, having lost all four previous encounters between the two.

Djokovic was making his return from a muscle tear in his right leg that forced him to retire from the Australian Open semi-finals, where he had been trailing to Alexander Zverev.

Rustiness may have played some part in the defeat, but in truth there was little in Djokovic’s power today against an excellent Berrettini performance from start to finish.

The Italian was impeccable on serve, sending down 13 aces and winning 85% on his first-serve points. He remained unbroken throughout the contest, fending off all three break points that he faced.

The first set was tight, with Djokovic too having saved three break points. But Berrettini held firm to win the tiebreak, before accelerating away in the second set, breaking in the second game before striking again in the eighth and final game to seal a momentous victory.

Berrettini, ranked No 35, will face Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor next.

Doha ATP 500, other first-round results (Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, hard, USD 3.035.960, most recent results first):

• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Hamad Medjedovic
• Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Quentin Halys (Q): 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2)
• Daniil Medvedev (4) beat Karen Khachanov: 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
• Andrey Rublev (5) beat Alexander Bublik: 6-3, 6-4
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7)
• Zizou Bergs beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-4, 7-6 (4)
• Nuno Borges beat Otto Virtanen (LL): 7-6 (6), 6-3
• Alex De Minaur (2) beat Roman Safiullin: 6-1, 7-5
• Botic van de Zandschulp (Q) beat Abdullah Shelbayh (WC): 7-5, 6-3
• Luca Nardi (Q) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 6-4, 6-3
• Jack Draper (8) beat Alexei Popyrin: 6-2, 7-6 (4)
• Carlos Alcaraz (1) beat Marin Cilic: 6-4, 6-4
• Fabian Marozsan beat Aziz Dougaz (WC): 7-5, 6-3
• Jiri Lehecka beat Grigor Dimitrov (7): 6-4, 6-4
• Christopher O’Connell (Q) beat Hady Habib (WC): 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3)