A two-time major finalist on hard courts (2020 US Open, 2025 Australian Open), Zverev has historically played his best tennis on clay, winning a second Internazionali BNL d’Italia title en route to a first final at Roland Garros.

With pressure to defend a substantial portion of his ranking points over the next few months, the German nonetheless made an impressive start against Berrettini, a former world No. 6. Berrettini arrived in Monte Carlo just shy of his 29th birthday and fresh off a run to the Miami Open quarterfinals, where he narrowly lost to former champion Taylor Fritz. Despite a solid first-round win over Mariano Navone, the Italian appeared overmatched in only his second match of the clay swing, twice losing serve to fall behind by a set.

The Italian soon stabilized his serve and was rewarded with the lone break of the second set, forcing Zverev into a decider.

Zverev and Berrettini traded more holds as the third set got underway, but Berrettini pulled ahead first, claiming a 0-40 lead in the all-important eighth game before converting at 30. Berrettini saved a break point in the following game to consolidate, and was soon standing at the baseline with a chance to serve for the match.