Berrettini ahead of Acapulco: Matteo and Jacopo promoted

The blue lead 6-1 1-0 before Molcan retires, the younger brother ahead: Otte down 2-1 in the third abandons

The return of Matteo Berrettini against the Slovak Alex Molcan was a “non-match”. A match, that of the first round of the Ato 500 in Acapulco, Mexico, which saw the blue prevail 6-1 1-0 in 44 minutes, before the opponent raised the white flag for an alleged wrist problem. Matteo’s brother Jacopo also promoted: he too due to the withdrawal of his opponent. Germany’s Otte bowed out on the score a set level and down 2-1 in the third.

The match

Even before the injury, however, there was no match. The blue was too strong, returning after the unfortunate match of the Australian Open, that first round lost in five sets against Andy Murray with that match point on the backhand sent into the net. Waiting for more demanding matches (such as the one in the next round, where he will meet one between Mannarino and Elias Ymer), we can say that we have seen a fairly tonic Berrettini, with his usual, solid service (five aces) and a more than good mobility, considering that he hadn’t played in an official match for a month and a half. Of course, probably Molcan (who even got booed by the always demanding Mexican public for his performance) would not have bothered Berrettini even if he had been at 100%, but the fact remains that we saw a good explosiveness, from the former top ten blue and current number 24 in the world, a position in the standings that does not in the least reflect the true ranking of the blue, and he is the first to know. Needless to talk about the match from a technical point of view, let alone from a competitive one: after 10 minutes the trend was already understood, and if it is true that in tennis you never take anything for granted, the difference on the court was such that you could already think about Berrettini’s next match. The important thing is that “The Hammer” is back on the field, and the desire shown also in this “no match” bodes well for the continuation of the tournament and beyond.

Jacopo goes

And Acapulco continues to be fabulous for the Berrettini family. After the incredible qualification obtained in the main draw, Jacopo, number 842 in the world, also got the victory, beating Oscar Otte (n.78 ATP) by 3-6 7-6 (3) 2-1. As happened to his brother, also in this case the rival was forced to retire due to a physical problem (left knee), but this does not diminish the great performance of the youngest of the Berrettinis, who will face the Australian Alex de minaur. Curious note: Matteo Berrettini’s first success in a slam, in Paris in 2018, was, also on that occasion, against Oscar Otte. Nothing to do for lucky loser Luciano Darderi, who entered the draw in place of the injured Carlos Alcaraz, who forfeited yesterday: the blue was defeated by Mc Donald with a score of 6-2 6-4.

Matteo and Jacopo were then eliminated from the doubles tournament, beaten 6-3 6-4 by the French Doumbia and Reboul.

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