Shanghai Masters: Berrettini digs deep to reach second round
Matteo Berrettini battled past Christopher O’Connell on Thursday and will play No 12 seed Holger Rune next
Italian Matteo Berrettini won against Australian Christopher O’Connell 7-6 (9), 7-6 (6) to advance to the second round of the Shanghai Masters at the Qi Zhong Tennis Center on Thursday.
Berrettini and O’Connell’s toilsome two-setter lasted for two hour, 15 minutes, with both players breaking each other’s serve twice.
The Italian fared better in hitting aces and winners, registering 11 and 33 against O’Connell’s five and 32, respectively. He also registered a superior first-serve points win average of 76 percent to the Aussie’s 67.
The result marked Berrettini’s first ATP Masters 1000-level win of 2024.
The former world No 6 seems to have recovered from the injury that forced him to quit midway through his battle with Arthur Fils in Tokyo a few days ago.
Berrettini, ranked No 45, will face No 12 seed Holger Rune next. He has come face-to-face with the Dane thrice thus far, winning just once.
Shanghai Masters 1000, other first-round results (Qi Zhong Tennis Center, hard, USD 8.995.555, most recent results first):
- Alex Michelsen vs. Yunchaokete Bu
- Stan Wawrinka vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
- Zhizhen Zhang vs. Zizou Bergs
- Mattia Bellucci vs. Billy Harris
- Aleksandar Kovacevic vs. Terence Atmane
- Pavel Kotov vs. Yosuke Watanuki
- Beibit Zhukayev vs. Roman Safiullin
- Ramkumar Ramanathan vs. Alexander Shevchenko
- Li Tu vs. Marcos Giron
- Tallon Griekspoor vs. Facundo Diaz Acosta
- Jakub Mensik vs. Pedro Martinez Portero
- David Goffin beat James Duckworth: 6-4, 6-2
- Jaume Munar beat Hugo Gaston: 6-3, 6-3
- Yi Zhou (WC) beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 2-4 ret.
- Miomir Kecmanovic beat Rinky Hijikata: 6-2, 6-2
- Kei Nishikori (WC) beat Mariano Navone: 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
- Thiago Seyboth Wild beat Daniel Evans (Q): 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (3)
- Taro Daniel beat Egor Gerasimov (Q): 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4
- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Gabriel Diallo (Q): 7-5, 7-6 (7)
- Juncheng Shang beat Chak Lam Coleman Wong (WC): 6-4, 6-4
- Zachary Svajda (Q) beat Adrian Mannarino: 6-3, 1-6, 6-0
- Aleksandar Vukic (Q) beat Corentin Moutet: 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
- Denis Shapovalov (Q) beat Lorenzo Sonego: 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8)
- Fabio Fognini beat Luciano Darderi: 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4
- Arthur Cazaux beat Marin Cilic: 6-4, 6-4
- Roberto Carballes Baena beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
- Gael Monfils beat Damir Dzumhur: 6-4, 6-3
- Arthur Rinderknech beat Reilly Opelka: 6-4, 7-6 (5)
- Alexandre Muller beat Luca Nardi: 4-6, 6-1, 6-1
- Botic van de Zandschulp beat Pablo Carreno Busta: 7-6 (5), 6-2
- Yibing Wu (WC) beat Sumit Nagal: 6-3, 6-3