It has occurred only 21 times in the past 20 years, and Matteo Berrettini has now struck twice. Winning an ATP Tour title while not dropping serve is one of the toughest tasks to accomplish, but the 22-year-old Italian won the ATP 250 event in Stuttgart last week doing just that.

He held serve 50 straight times to take the title and improve to a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 22 this week. The only two break points Berrettini faced at the MercedesCup were in the same game, serving at 1-2 in the opening set of the semi-final against Jan-Lennard Struff.

Stuttgart Semi-Final: Berrettini Break Points Saved vs. Struff
1-2, 30/40: Second serve / Berrettini hit a slice backhand down the line that forced a Struff forehand error (seven-shot rally).
1-2, Ad Out: Second serve / Struff committed a backhand return error long (one-shot rally).

Berrettini also won the ATP 250 event in Gstaad last year on clay without dropping serve. The Italian held 49 straight times while saving nine break points along the way.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of this rare feat reveals that just 13 players have combined to win 21 tournaments without dropping serve since 1999, which is when break points for all rounds of a tournament were officially recorded.

Unbroken To Win The Title (in order of most recent)
Matteo Berrettini (twice)
Novak Djokovic
Alexander Zverev
John Isner
Nick Kyrgios
Roger Federer (four times)
Ivo Karlovic (twice)
Milos Raonic (twice)
Andy Roddick (twice)
Mark Philippoussis
Ivan Ljubicic (twice)
Jonas Bjorkman
Kenneth Carlsen

John Isner is the only player since 1999 to win an ATP Tour title without facing a break point, which he accomplished at the ATP 250 event in Newport in 2017. He fired 65 aces along the way.

Ivan Ljubicic impressively won back-to-back titles in Vienna in 2005 and 2006 without dropping serve either year. He saved 17 break points in 2005 and five in 2006. Roger Federer, who is now coached by Ljubicic, has won the most ATP events since 1999 without dropping serve, with four titles.

Federer: ATP Titles Won Without Dropping Serve
2015 Cincinnati
2012 Cincinnati
2008 Halle
2005 Doha

Berrettini has now risen up to the 10th spot in the Infosys ATP Stats Serve LEADERBOARD, with a 285.4 rating in the past 52 weeks. An Italian player has never tasted ultimate glory on the grass courts at Wimbledon. Berrettini is ticking all the right boxes to be a legitimate dark horse this year.

See Who Berrettini Is Chasing On The Infosys ATP Stats Serve LEADERBOARD

1999-2019: Players Winning An ATP Title Without Dropping Serve

Last year’s champion Borna Coric has never defended more ATP Rankings points than he is this week at the NOVENTI OPEN, an ATP 500 event in Halle.

So Coric will be especially pleased to have squeaked past Portugal’s Joao Sousa 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-6(4) in two hours, 55 minutes on Wednesday to return to the quarter-finals at the grass-court event. The Croatian beat nine-time champion Roger Federer in last year’s final for the biggest title of his career.

“I’m just very happy… It was not an easy match, but I got the win, that’s what’s most important,” Coric said.

The 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals semi-finalist had to overcome a rough ending to the second set – he was broken in the 11th game – to stay alive in Halle. The 22-year-old underwent a medical timeout for a rib injury after the third game in the deciding set, but he recovered from that as well and pulled away in the tie-break. Sousa, who was 0/4 on break points in the final set and led 4/2 in the third-set tie-break, fell to 11-18 on the year. 

“I was losing 4/2 in the tie-break. I was feeling like I’m actually losing the match. So now to turn it around, I must be very, very happy,” Coric said.

He will next meet Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who made his fourth ATP Tour quarter-final of 2019 by beating qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4. Herbert hit nine aces for the match and didn’t face a break point in the deciding set.

Read More: Herbert Narrows His Vision For Singles Success

In doubles, top seeds and two-time defending champions Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo ousted Dutchmen Wesley Koolhof/Matwe Middelkoop 6-3, 6-2 and will next face David Goffin/Herbert.

Second seeds Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus edged Dominic Inglot/Austin Krajicek 7-6(4), 7-6(6) and will meet the Austrian team of Oliver Marach/Jurgen Melzer. In the only other doubles match of the day, Matteo Berrettini/Jean-Julien Rojer swept Radu Albot/Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4.

Did You Know?
Herbert improved to 12-11 on grass. He’s 47-58 on hard and 14-16 on clay.

Stan Wawrinka had too much firepower for Daniel Evans on Wednesday at a wet and overcast Fever-Tree Championships that attempts to play catch-up after bad weather.

The seventh-seeded Swiss, who has employed the services of Daniel Vallverdu in support of his main coach Magnus Norman for the grass-court swing, was assured from the baseline in his 6-3, 6-4 first-round victory over British wild card Evans in 72 minutes. The match, contested on Centre Court at The Queen’s Club, was suspended due to a prolonged rain shower for three-and-a-quarter hours.

“I expected a tough match. He’s won more matches in the past two weeks than I have in my whole career on grass,” joked Wawrinka. “It’s been a tough two days with the rain, but I was happy to be back on this court with an amazing atmosphere. I’m really happy to have won today.”

Wawrinka, who reached the 2014 semi-finals, won the first three games of the match and led 5-3 when rain first began to fall at 2:34 p.m. local time. Upon the resumption of play at 5:49 p.m., the 34-year-old won four of the next five games, keeping Evans behind the baseline in defence.

Wawrinka, who had previously edged through two tight encounters against Evans at the 2016 US Open and in March at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, finished with a backhand winner and will next face French qualifier Nicolas Mahut, the 2007 runner-up, on Thursday.

The 29-year-old Evans came into the event on the back of consecutive ATP Challenger Tour grass-court titles in Surbiton and Nottingham. During that stretch he improved from No. 80 to No. 63 in the ATP Rankings.

No play was possible on Tuesday, when the ATP 500 grass-court tournament had a full day’s play washed out for the first time since 11 June 2012.

A battle between the No. 3 and No. 77 players in the ATP Rankings might seem like a mismatch on paper, but Roger Federer facing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round of the NOVENTI OPEN in Halle looks to be anything but that.

The two fan favourites resume their epic FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry on Thursday. Federer leads their series 11-6, but they haven’t met in three years.

Although Tsonga trails in match wins, he has momentum on his side. The Frenchman prevailed in their past two FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings and won their lone grass-court battle, rallying from two sets down in the 2011 Wimbledon quarter-finals. The classic match at SW19 is their only grass-court clash to date.

“He took all the right chances,” reflected Federer after the loss. “He believed in shots that you maybe don’t hit as often. But exactly when he needed them, he was able to pull them off. When it got important for him, he went for it. It all worked out for him today.”

The Swiss has been pushed by Tsonga in recent years. He’s dropped a set to the Frenchman in four of his five most recent victories.

However, Federer’s grass-court credentials are well-documented and he always raises his level on the surface. The nine-time Halle champion has won at least one grass-court title in 13 of the past 16 years. Federer improved his Halle record to 64-7 with a first-round win on Tuesday over Aussie John Millman. A win on Sunday would give the Swiss 10 titles at an event for the first time in his career.

The winner will face Frenchman Richard Gasquet or Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarter-finals.

Russian Karen Khachanov reached his third quarter-final of 2019 on Wednesday at the NOVENTI OPEN in Halle, beating home favourite Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Khachanov, playing at a career-high of No. 9 in the ATP Rankings, didn’t face a break point in either the first or third sets, and converted two of his seven chances against Struff, who was also playing at a career-high of No. 35.

“On grass, both of us are playing pretty aggressive, serving hard. So it was really difficult to find the rhythm on the opponent’s serve. I had to try to wait for the chances,” Khachanov said. 

Both Khachanov and Struff made the second week of Roland Garros (Khachanov, QF; Struff, Round of 16). The Russian’s other quarter-final of 2019 came in March at the BNP Paribas Open, the season’s first ATP Masters 1000 event, in Indian Wells.

Khachanov will next meet an Italian, either red-hot Roman Matteo Berrettini or Andreas Seppi. Berrettini beat #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime to win his second ATP Tour title on Sunday at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart. Berrettini leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0, which includes their second-round match last week in Stuttgart.

“Both of them are good players, especially on grass courts. I think they are dangerous guys,” Khachanov said.

David Goffin, 2017 Nitto ATP Finals runner-up, fought past Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com champion Radu Albot of Moldova 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to setup a potential quarter-final matchup with second seed Alexander Zverev. Goffin improved to 3-3 on the season in deciding sets, and 80-45 (64%) for his career, according to his FedEx ATP Win/Loss Record.

“It was not easy today. It was the first time I was playing on the centre court. It’s different conditions compared to the outside court,” Goffin said. “I’m really happy with the way I fought.”

Zverev faces American Steve Johnson on Thursday for a place in the last eight. Nine-time champion Roger Federer also returns on Thursday against France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Federer leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 11-6.

Juan Martin del Potro proved too consistent for Denis Shapovalov on an overcast Wednesday, as the Fever-Tree Championships attempted to play catch-up following Tuesday’s washout.

Watched by a 9,216-strong Centre Court crowd, third seed Del Potro came through a potentially tricky first-round encounter 7-5, 6-4 in 76 minutes at The Queen’s Club.

The popular Argentine will now play 2017 champion Feliciano Lopez, who beat Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4. The 37-year-old Lopez is playing at the ATP 500 grass-court tournament for the 14th straight year, highlighted by victory over Marin Cilic in the 2017 final. The Spaniard also reached the 2014 final (l. to Dimitrov).

One break of serve in each set — at 5-5 in the first and at 2-2 in the second — was enough for Del Potro, who slipped a few of times on the lush grass. The 2013 quarter-finalist, contesting his fifth tournament of the season following a knee injury sustained in October 2018, hit 11 aces in their third FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

Shapovalov, who is currently in third position in the ATP Race To Milan for a spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals in November, got off to a 13-7 start in the first three months of 2019, but the Canadian left-hander is now 2-8 since March.

A full day’s play was washed out on Tuesday for the first time since the opening day of the 2012 championships.