Berrettini wins rollercoaster v De Minaur in Miami, makes first Masters quarter-final since 2021

Italy’s Matteo Berrettini moved into the quarter-finals of the Miami Masters by winning against Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 10 seed, 6-3, 7-6 (7) at the Hard Rock Stadium on Tuesday night.

In doing so, the Italian makes his first appearance in the last eight of a Masters 1000 event since Madrid 2021, reaching this stage in Miami for the first time in his career. The No 29 seed was made to do it the hard way, however, fending off six set points in the second set and winning on his fifth match point to make the quarter-finals.

“It means a lot, the way I won this match,” Berrettini said after the two-hour contest. “It felt like I lost this second set, then I won it, then I lost it again, then I won it. Pretty tough mentally.

“Demon is an unbelievable player. He’s defending in a way I’ve never seen, so I’m really proud of myself.”

A second set to remember

Berrettini began well, breaking De Minaur in his opening game and racing out to a 3-0 lead. The set then remained on serve, with Berrettini closing out 6-3 despite facing two break points in the ninth game.

Another early break came when he pounced in game one of the second set, winning an 11-minute opening game. This time, De Minaur broke back and looked set to force a decider when he created three set points on the Italian’s serve at 5-4. But Berrettini saved all three, going on a run of three games with a break of De Minaur in the 11th game.

With the match on his racquet, Berrettini had three match points in an epic 12th game, while De Minaur needed three break points of his own to send the set to a tiebreak.

It seemed the Australian’s momentum would carry him through to win the second set when he edged ahead a double break, gaining three set points at 6-3 in the tiebreak. But again, De Minaur was unable to convert his opportunities, letting Berrettini back into the breaker.

He fought off one more match point, but on the fifth, it was curtains for the Aussie who fought so hard but fell just short.

Berrettini, ranked No 30, will play the winner of the match between American Taylor Fritz, the No 3 seed, and Australian lucky loser Adam Walton next.

Ahead of his victory, the Italian beat French lucky loser Hugo Gaston (4-6, 6-3, 6-3) and Belgian Zizou Bergs (6-4, 6-4).

De Minaur, ranked No 11, defeated Chinese Yunchaokete Bu (6-4, 6-4) and Brazilian Joao Fonseca (5-7, 7-5, 6-3) in the previous rounds of the Miami Open.

Miami Masters 1000, other last 16 results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 9.193.540, most recent results first):

• Alexander Zverev vs. Arthur Fils
• Taylor Fritz vs. Adam Walton: tuesday
• Tomas Machac vs. Jakub Mensik
• Novak Djokovic (4) beat Lorenzo Musetti (15): 6-2, 6-2
• Francisco Cerundolo (23) beat Casper Ruud (5): 6-4, 6-2
• Sebastian Korda (24) beat Gael Monfils: 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
• Grigor Dimitrov (14) beat Brandon Nakashima (31): 6-4, 7-5