Matteo Berrettini wins Phoenix opener The former world No. 6 dropped to No. 154 in the rankings after losing to Hugo Gaston at the ATP Challenger event on Tuesday.
Matteo Berrettini wins Phoenix opener
Competing in the Phoenix Challenger, Berretini started slowly, defeating Hugo Gaston 3–6, 6–3, 6–1. The 27-year-old scored 10 goals and broke his French counterpart five times from 13 chances to secure victory.
In his on-court interview later, Berretini was naturally thrilled to be back on the field.
“I’m so happy. It’s been 10 years! It’s been so long. It’s been almost seven months since my last match,” he said with a laugh.
The former world No. 6 finds himself in the 175-level challenger event for the second year in a row, albeit for different reasons. A year ago, he fell as a non-selected contender in his opener at Indian Wells and needed match rep after struggling with his confidence.
This time, he’s on his way back from injury – a narrative Berettini has unfortunately become accustomed to. It was in New York last August when Berretini tore a ligament in his right ankle during a second-round encounter with Arthur Rinderknecht. The injury follows a stomach problem that ruled him out of all but one event of the 2023 European clay-court season.
Berretini was scheduled to compete at the Australian Open in January before withdrawing with a right leg injury. His ranking has since dropped to 154.
Next week, the Rome native is expected to play in the Masters 1000 event in Miami. Berretini entered with a secure ranking of No. 74.
In Phoenix, Chris Eubanks is the top seed and Sebastian Offner is the second seed.