MONTREAL — To the disappointment of many, Italy’s Matteo Berrettini missed his debut at Tuesday’s National Bank Open at the IGA Stadium, putting in a poor performance against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.
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Ranked 23rd in the world, he caused a major upset by toppling the tournament’s 11th place finisher in straight sets 6-3 6-2 in Rogers’ court. Berrettini, a finalist at last year’s Wimbledon tournament, was not on his plate. He couldn’t afford a single break point as a result, maintaining a 59% efficiency percentage on his first serve.
The 26-year-old knew he had to pull himself together to succeed in the important tournaments that were about to begin.
“It was a bad day ‘at the office’. I didn’t find my way and didn’t find my game, my rival played better than me and was just solid, he admitted. Everything needs improvement, but at least it’s good to have another tournament on the schedule [celui de Cincinnati la semaine prochaine] from here to the US Open.”
The former sixth racket of the ATP is far from giving in to discouragement, especially since his recent competitions have been quite successful despite his absence from Wimbledon due to COVID-19.
“It’s been a while since I’ve played on hard ground after titles in Stuttgart and Queen’s, then a final in Gstaad [en Suisse]. Unfortunately I didn’t feel my legs today, he complained. However, the calendar remains condensed and I have no time to reflect on this defeat.
The weather: yes, but…
Berrettini did not ignore the rather capricious weather conditions. Whether the weather is nice or bad, hot or cold, the work stays the same.
“You have to get used to it and deal with it. It’s like that for me and for my opponent,” he said.
For his part, Carreno Busta meets the Dane Holger Rune in the second round. The latter defeated Italian Fabio Fognini in two sets 6:3 and 7:5 a little later in the day.