Berrettini's body holds up in tight Shanghai win over O'Connell
Former Top 10 Italian Matteo Berrettini has set a second-round showdown with Holger Rune at the Rolex Shanghai Masters after edging Australian Christopher O’Connell in two tight sets in China on Thursday.
Berrettini clipped 33 winners, including 11 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in a 7-6(9), 7-6(6) win over World No. 71 O’Connell to claim his first win of the season at ATP Masters 1000 level. The match lasted two hours and 13 minutes.
[ATP APP]No. 45 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Berrettini said that he felt confident in his body after withdrawing in the Tokyo second round against Arthur Fils with an abdominal issue.
“I’m happy to be back here and healthy. I’ve never played him so didn’t know what to expect,” said Berrettini, who fought off two sets points in the first-set tie-break.
“Mentally it’s been tough… Too often I have been thinking about how to be healthy and it’s something I’ve grown a bit tired of. I’ve been working hard to be able to think as less as possible about this.
“It was one of the goals of the match. Not to think about my condition, just to enjoy the match, enjoy the atmosphere, which I did.”
Back with a bang 💥
Matteo Berrettini defeats O’Connell 7-6(9) 7-6(6) to record his first ATP Masters 1000 win of the season.@SH_RolexMasters | #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/mqUkXFJcDu
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 3, 2024
Berrettini trails Rune 1-2 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. The Dane rallied from a set down in Cincinnati in August to claim their most recent meeting.
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