Top seed Zverev suffers another early exit with loss to Berrettini in Monte-Carlo
The German has not been past the quarter-finals in any event since reaching the Australian Open final in January
Chryslene Caillaud / Psnewz
Top seed Alexander Zverev suffered another early exit when he was beaten 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 by Matteo Berrettini in the second round of the Monte-Carlo Masters on Tuesday.
The German, who has struggled for form since reaching the final of the Australian Open, cruised through the first set but former Wimbledon runner-up Berrettini surged back and held his nerve at the end to clinch victory.
“I think it’s fairly obvious how satisfied I am, no?,” Zverev said. “I mean, I won not many matches. So it’s been the worst period since my (ankle) injury, (these) last few months.
“Decisive is that I played a great first set, and once I got broken in the second set I play ten levels down. My ball is much slower. I stop hitting the ball. The same story the last few months. Nothing changes. So it’s me who lost the match, once again.”
“I have been trying to figure it out for months”
Zverev has failed to get beyond the quarter-finals in any event since Melbourne and was at a loss to explain why the results are not going his way.
“I lost three sets in Buenos Aires, I lost three sets in Rio, I lost three sets in Indian Wells, I lost three sets in Miami, I lost three sets here, and I didn’t win a single one. So that’s the matter,” he said.
“I have no idea right now. I have been trying to figure it out for months now. I don’t know anymore.”
The match included a 48-shot rally in the 11th game of the final set, won by Berrettini. The Italian went on to break serve and then served out for a place in the last 16.
Berrettini, ranked No 34, will face the winner of the match between Jiri Lehecka and Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No 13 seed, next.
In the previous round of the Monte-Carlo tournament, the Italian beat Argentinian qualifier Mariano Navone (6-4, 6-4).
Berrettini’s biggest win by ranking
For Berrettini, it was a 17th win out of his last 18 on clay and after all his injury troubles of recent years, he looks back to where he belongs. After a tough first set, he stepped up his aggression and was a deserving winner as Zverev netted his final backhand.
“The game plan was the same but I changed my attitude and the way I was believing in my strokes,” Berrettini said, quoted by the ATP Tour’s website.
“I wasn’t hitting my forehand and serve like I had in previous days and I had to adapt and adjust to the conditions and Sascha was playing unbelievable, so it was not easy. Then I told myself to be more aggressive and if I am going to lose this match, I am going to do the right things and luckily it worked.”
Monte-Carlo Masters 1000, other second-round results (Monte-Carlo Country Club, clay, EUR 6.128.940, most recent results first):
- Daniil Medvedev vs. Alexandre Muller
- Valentin Vacherot vs. Grigor Dimitrov
- Tomas Machac vs. Alex De Minaur
- Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Casper Ruud
- Novak Djokovic vs. Alejandro Tabilo
- Francisco Cerundolo vs. Carlos Alcaraz
- Andrey Rublev vs. Gael Monfils
- Daniel Altmaier vs. Richard Gasquet
- Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
- Nuno Borges vs. Pedro Martinez Portero
- Jiri Lehecka vs. Lorenzo Musetti
- Jack Draper vs. Marcos Giron
- Jordan Thompson vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
