Matteo Berrettini says goodbye to Stockholm, no derby with Lorenzo Sonego
The ATP 250 tournament in Stockholm, Sweden, will not be the scene of an Italian derby in the quarterfinals: Matteo Berrettini, in fact, failed to overcome the’Ugo Humbert obstacle in the round of 16, and it will therefore be the Frenchman who will face the’other Italian, who in the previous hours had defeated in two sets the American Aleksandar Kovacevic.
Berrettini, fresh from his success in the previous round against Giulio Zeppieri, was more than competitive in the first set, in which neither he nor Humbert were able to avoid the tie-break: in the decisive mini-game, the Roman also managed to come back from 1-4 to 4-all, but his opponent managed to close the fraction in his favor with a three-point-to-one partial.
The Italian tennis player then got off to a bad start in the second set, immediately losing a game on his own serve, and was no longer able to regain the disadvantage.
The match ended 7-6(5), 6-3 after an hour and thirty-three minutes of play, thus sanctioning Berrettini’s elimination. The Roman, in October, has won one match while losing two: in addition to today’s knockout, there is also the one against Mannarino in Shanghai.
The Stockholm Open is a tournament now rooted in the tradition of the professional circuit: the first edition, in fact, dates back to 1969, with Nikola Pilic’s victory over Ilie Nastase in three sets. Only one Italian has lifted the trophy: it was Adriano Panatta, who in 1975 beat the’American Jimmy Connors in a comeback, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
