A new week. A new level from Matteo Berrettini.

The Italian kick-started his Tennis Napoli Cup campaign Thursday with a confident second-round performance to down Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4, 6-2. The pair’s meeting at the ATP 250 event in Naples came just eight days after Carballes Baena had upset Berrettini on the indoor courts in Florence, but the second seed put that previous disappointment to bed in style as he charged to a 91-minute second-round victory.

“The atmosphere, The conditions [were different to Florence] for sure,” said Berrettini after the match. “This is outdoor, way warmer, and I wanted to get revenge. I felt like I had a lot of chances last week and it was tough to digest, especially because I played in Florence, in Italy, so it was really tough. But today I stepped on the court, I think with even more will to win this match, and I think I played better.”

Berrettini struck his forehand cleanly throughout, crashing 36 winners to his opponent’s seven en route to his 30th tour-level win of the season. Carballes Baena showed early intent and carved out the first break point of the match in the second game, but once the Italian escaped via a big serve he assumed control. Berrettini converted three from five break points and sealed the win with a huge inside-out forehand to the delight of the home crowd.

Berrettini, who currently sits in 15th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, seeks a strong run this week in Naples to keep alive his outside chance of qualifying for November’s Nitto ATP Finals. His next opponent at the hard-court event will be Taro Daniel, after the Japanese overcame Pedro Cachin 6-4, 7-6(2).

“Hopefully [the crowd will be] even louder,” said Berrettini later when asked about his quarter-final against Daniel. “That’s what we like to hear when we play, especially here in Naples, one of the warmest cities in the whole world. I love to play here, hopefully it’s going to be a great match.”

Earlier on Thursday, qualifier Zhang Zhizhen notched two wins in a day to etch his name into Chinese tennis history. The 26-year-old defeated Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 7-6(8) in the first round before returning for a 7-6(5), 7-6(11) second-round upset of 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals competitior Sebastian Baez. Zhang has moved up 13 spots to No. 96 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, putting himself in position to become the first Chinese man to break the Top 100 in Pepperstone ATP Rankings history on Monday, pending results the rest of the week.

Zhang’s next opponent will be Mackenzie McDonald, who also pulled double duty to surge into the quarter-finals. The American backed up his 6-3, 7-5 morning win against #NextGenATP Italian Francesco Passaro with an 6-4, 6-4 second-round upset of Roberto Bautista Agut in the afternoon. The 27-year-old McDonald also reached the last eight in Florence last week.

Fourth seed Lorenzo Musetti enjoyed a comfortable start to his campaign, easing past Laslo Djere 7-5, 6-4 to reach his seventh tour-level quarter-final of 2022. Musetti saved both break points he faced to down Djere, who was playing his second match of the day. The Serbian had earlier dispatched qualifier Borna Gojo 6-4, 7-6(6) in his first-round match.

Musetti is enjoying a strong finish to his year in his homeland, where he also reached the semi-finals in Florence last week. He will take on Daniel Elahi Galan in the quarter-finals, after the Colombian prevailed 7-6(5), 6-4 against Nuno Borges.

Fabio Fognini also delighted the home fans on Thursday with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 against Hugo Grenier in his first-round match. Fognini held firm to clinch a two-hour, 42-minute triumph and he next faces second seed Pablo Carreno Busta.

Matteo Berrettini kicked a goal in Naples before taking the court at the Tennis Napoli Cup.

The Italian on Wednesday met countryman Fabio Cannavaro, a football legend who won the prestigious Ballon d’Or in 2006. Cannavaro was the captain of the Italian team that won the World Cup that year.

”Onorato di avert incontrato Capitano,” Berrettini wrote on Instagram, which means, “Honoured to have met you Captain!”

 

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It was not the first time Berrettini has met with football royalty. After competing in the Wimbledon final in 2021, he joined his country’s football team to celebrate their victory at the European Championships.

Berrettini’s meeting was not the only fun off-court experience of the week on the ATP Tour. Several players competing in the European Open visited Chocolate Nation in Belgium.

^{Photo Credit: @europeantennisopen}
David Goffin, Hubert Hurkacz and Karen Khachanov went on a trip to the chocolate museum, where they signed autographs on chocolate tennis balls.

Dominic Thiem also visited the museum. Afterwards, the former World No. 3 revealed his favourite chocolate on Instagram: “Today at the chocolate museum 🤎,” Thiem wrote. “To be honest, 100% dark chocolate is my absolute favourite! 👀”

 

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When Stefanos Tsitsipas last competed on centre court in Stockholm four years ago, he lifted his first ATP Tour title. A lot has changed for the World No. 5 since then, but one thing remained the same on Wednesday — his perfect record at the Swedish ATP 250.

The top seed battled past serve-and-volleying American Maxime Cressy 7-6(5), 7-6(12) to reach the quarter-finals of the Stockholm Open. The 24-year-old will next face defending champion Tommy Paul or home favourite Mikael Ymer.

“I really had to hang tight in there and I delivered the shots that I had to in that second tie-break, which was very crucial,” Tsitsipas said. “He was serving extremely well, catching the lines, being very precise and I really went for it in that one.”

Cressy played aggressive, net-rushing tennis to apply plenty of pressure on his Top 5 opponent. But Tsitsipas remained calm in the critical moments to triumph after two hours and four minutes.

The American earned three set points in the second-set tie-break to force a decider, but Tsitsipas maintained pressure in tense baseline rallies and kept his opponent from approaching the net. The Greek also used his own serve as a weapon, winning 91 per cent of his first-serve points (52/57) in the match.

Tsitsipas has already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, which will be played from 13-20 November in Turin. This week, he is trying to claim his first trophy since emerging victorious in Mallorca during the grass-court season. The Greek also successfully defended his Rolex Monte Carlo Masters title during the clay-court season.

Did You Know?
Tsitsipas has won four of his five career matches in Stockholm in straight sets. The only set he lost at the tournament came in the second set of his opening-round match against John Millman in 2018.

Sebastian Baez made a winning start to his Tennis Napoli Cup campaign on Wednesday when he moved past Italian Lorenzo Sonego 7-5, 7-6(3) to reach the second round.

In a tight match, the Argentine broke twice and struck 23 winners to advance after two hours and 15 minutes at the ATP 250 event, improving to 1-2 in his ATP Head2Head series against Sonego.

The sixth seed, who snapped an 11-match losing streak, will next face Chinese qualifier Zhizhen Zhang or Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.

In other action, Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena defeated Chilean Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 6-4, while Corentin Moutet edged #NextGenATP Italian Luca Nardi 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 6-2 in three hours and 32 minutes.

The 19-year-old Nardi is currently 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Milan on 385 points. He is 37 points behind 10th-placed Dominic Stricker. The Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals will be held from 13-20 November.

Play is currently suspended in Naples due to humidity on the courts in Italy.

Stefanos Tsitsipas is the ultimate “closer” when serving this season.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the current Top 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings from the 2022 season identifies the Greek as the leading player who holds serve the most after building at least a two-point lead in his service games. Tsitsipas has surged to a 30/0, 40/0, and 40/15 lead 946 times this season and has only dropped serve seven times from these three specific point scores. It’s a jaw-dropping stat, especially considering it does not add up to getting broken even one percent (.007%) of the time.

A “closer” is a specialized baseball pitcher brought in toward the end of the game when his team is leading. His job is to convert the lead into a victory. Tsitsipas perfectly fits the bill from a tennis serving perspective.

Stefanos Tsitsipas: 2022 Season

• Holding from 30/0 – 4 service games lost from 366.
• Holding from 40/0 – 0 service games lost from 269.
• Holding from 40/15 – 3 service games lost from 311.
• Combined – 7 service games lost from 946.
• Combined Hold Percentage – 99.3%

The following breakdown identifies the leading players in the Top 10 rankings holding serve from 30/0, 40/0, and 40/15.

Holding From 30/0 (Top 10 Average = 97.2%)

1. Stefanos Tsitsipas = 98.9% (362/366)
2. Taylor Fritz = 98.6% (285/289) )
3. Felix Auger-Aliassime = 97.5% (314/322) )

A 30/0 lead is a solid way to start a service game, but the server has still only won two of the required four points to hold serve. It seems like there is still ample opportunity for things to get sideways for the server. Not so for Tsitsipas, Fritz, and Auger-Aliassime, who close the door on their service games better than anyone else in the Top 10. They were also the only three players in the data set to hold from greater than 97 per cent of the time.

Holding From 40/0 (Top 10 Average = 99.5%)

T1. Stefanos Tsitsipas = 100% (269/269) )
T1. Felix Auger-Aliassime = 100% (213/213) )
T1. Alexander Zverev = 100% (112/112) )
T1. Novak Djokovic = 100% (93/93) )

Overall, the current Top 10 have only dropped serve 10 times (1844/1854) this season when leading 40/0. No current Top 10 player has dropped more than two service games from 40/0. Stepping outside the data set, Maxime Cressy is the only player since 2015 to have led 40/0 more than 200 times and not dropped serve, holding 275 consecutive times from 40/0.

Holding From 40-15 (Top 10 Average = 98.1%)

1. Stefanos Tsitsipas = 99.0% (308/311) )
2. Felix Auger-Aliassime = 99.0% (287/290) )
3. Alexander Zverev = 98.5% (133/135)

The point score of 40/15 is once again a dominant scoreline for the Greek, only dropping serve three times in 311 service games. Interestingly, current world No. 1, Carlos Alcaraz, has dropped serve from 40-15 eight times (247/255) this season, which is more than any other Top 10 player.

Tsitsipas is currently ranked No. 5 in the ATP rankings and is competing in the Stockholm Open this week. He is less than 900 points behind the players ranked two to four, and only 1800 points separates Tsitsipas and world No. 1, Alcaraz. Tsitsipas is in contention to equal or surpass his career-high ranking of No. 3, and the top rung is certainly in play if he can once again capture the Nitto ATP Finals, which he did in 2019.

Jack Draper will be the first Briton to compete in the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals. The lefty on Wednesday qualified for the 21-and-under season finale, which will be played in Milan from 8-12 November.

The 20-year-old entered the season with two tour-level wins, but has tallied a 16-9 tour-level record in 2022 to establish himself as a star on the ATP Tour. Draper joins Lorenzo Musetti and Holger Rune in the Milan field. BUY TICKETS NOW

The Briton was the No. 265 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings at the start of the year. He has climbed as high as World No. 46, a bigger jump than anyone else in the Top 50.

Draper won four ATP Challenger Tour titles early in the year and never relinquished his momentum. The lefty served his way to his first ATP Tour semi-final in front of his home fans in Eastbourne before bursting through at the ATP Masters 1000-level in August in Montreal, where he made the quarter-finals as a qualifier.

During his run in Canada, Draper stunned World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 20-year-old continued his ascent at the US Open, where he made the third round with an upset of Felix Auger-Aliassime.

With his back against the wall Wednesday, Cameron Norrie found a way to reach the quarter-finals at the Stockholm Open.

The second seed trailed Aslan Karatsev 2-4 in the third set but rallied to advance 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-4 at the ATP 250 event. Norrie will next play #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune after the 19-year-old defeated Cristian Garin 7-6(2), 6-1. The 27-year-old Norrie is aiming to win his third tour-level title of the season in Sweden after triumphing in Delray Beach and Lyon.

“It was a tough match,” Norrie said. “Every time Aslan was down he raised his level and he really stole that first set from me. I had a couple of set points and I didn’t execute as well as I could have done in the tie-break. I stayed solid and I was a bit frustrated in the third set but I managed to claw it back. I feel good and fresh.”

In a dramatic match, Norrie recovered from squandering a set point in the first set as he played consistently and patiently from the baseline in the second and third sets to turn the clash around and advance after three hours and two minutes.

The Briton, who is 47-23 on the season, is currently 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin on 2400 points. He will need a strong end to the season if he is to close the gap on seventh-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime (3065 points) and qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 13-20 November.

Denis Shapovalov also advanced, moving past Swiss qualifier Antoine Bellier 6-4, 7-5 in 83 minutes. The Canadian, who reached the semi-finals in Tokyo earlier this month, will next meet Alex de Minaur or J.J. Wolf.

Daniel Evans wasted little time reaching the quarter-finals at the European Open on Wednesday when he cruised past Frenchman Constant Lestienne 6-2, 6-1 in Antwerp.

The fifth seed looked in control throughout the 75-minute match, winning 82 per cent (18/22) of his first-serve points and breaking five times to earn his 27th tour-level win of the season.

The Briton now leads Lestienne 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, after winning their previous meeting in San Diego in September. Evans, who is currently No. 24 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, will next face second-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime or Frenchman Manuel Guinard. Guinard defeated countryman Geoffrey Blancaneaux 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

The 32-year-old is making his second appearance at the ATP 250 event, having reached the semi-finals in 2020. Earlier this season, Evans enjoyed runs to the last four in Sydney, San Diego and an ATP Masters 1000 event in Montreal.