Matteo Berrettini clears the first hurdle in Shanghai and gives himself a high-profile second round

Masters 1000 Shanghai, Matteo Berrettini in the second round

Matteo Berrettini’s path to the Shanghai ATP tournament is off to a good start: the penultimate Masters 1000 of the year in fact begins with a success for the Roman, who rules the Australian Christopher O'Connell in two sets: 7-6(9), 7-6(6) the score in favor of the current world number 45, who week after week continues to climb up the rankings after finally overcoming the physical problems that had dogged him until a few months ago.

However, it wasn’t a walk in the park for Berrettini against the ATP number 79, champion just over two weeks ago of the Guangzhou Challenger and remembered by Italian fans for having unsuccessfully faced Jannik Sinner in the third round of the US Open: the match on the Shanghai concrete è lasted two hours and a quarter, with Berrettini having to give his best, first to cancel two set points in the tie-break of the first fraction and then to come back from 0-2 in the decisive mini-set of the second set.

The next round will put Berrettini in front of a prestigious opponent, Danish Holger Rune, who is among the top seeds (with number 12 in the seeding) guaranteed direct access to the 32nd finals. The two have met four times: Berrettini won the first direct clash in 2022 in Indian Wells, then lost the next three, in the quarters in Acapulco and the round of 16 in Monte Carlo in 2023 and in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 in 2024.

The Shanghai Masters 2024 will be played without last year’s champion, Hubert Hurkacz: a forfeit, caused by injury, that is rather heavy for the Pole at the ranking level, because he cannot defend the points he won from last year è he is already certain to drop out of the top 10 at the end of the tournament.