Matteo Berrettini struggles more than expected but is in the third round in Rome

A more complicated debut than expected for Matteo Berrettini at the Internazionali d’Italia. In front of the home crowd, the Roman tennis player, 29th seed, overcame in two hard-fought sets (6-4 7-6) Jacob Fearnley, world number 57, after nearly two hours of play.

In the first set, the first to earn a break point was Fearnley in the sixth game but Berrettini saved himself. At 4-4 came the blue’s extension, who at the third useful opportunity took the serve away from the Briton (5-4), before closing the partial on serve (6-4).

The second set began uphill for Berrettini, who suffered a lapse in the fifth game, giving up the serve to Fearnley (1-3). The Englishman retained the break until 5-4 but at the best he suffered the return of the Roman who dragged the set to the tie-break, dominating it (7-0).

Thanks to this success Berrettini enters the third round of the Rome Masters 1000 where he will face the winner of the challenge between Casper Ruud, sixth seed, and Alexander Bublik, number 76 in the ATP rankings.