Monte-CarloItalian next faces Musetti or Lehecka
April 08, 2025
Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
Matteo Berrettini defeats Alexander Zverev at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. By Sam Jacot
Matteo Berrettini earned the biggest win of his career by PIF ATP Ranking on Tuesday, when he overcame World No. 2 Alexander Zverev 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in a Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters epic.
Competing in front of a raucous crowd on Court Rainier III, Berrettini produced one of his best performances in recent years to reach the third round in The Principality for just the second time and improve to 3-4 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Zverev.
“The game plan was the same but I changed my attitude and the way I was believing in my strokes,” said Berrettini, who won 14 of 15 first-serve points in the second set, according to Infosys ATP Stats. “I wasn’t hitting my forehand and serve like I had in previous days and I had to adapt and adjust to the conditions and Sascha was playing unbelievable, so it was not easy. Then I told myself to be more aggressive and if I am going to lose this match, I am going to do the right things and luckily it worked.”
Matteo strikes BIG 🔨💥
The top seed is out coming up against an inspired @MattBerrettini @ROLEXMCMASTERS | #RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/bj88CZaC9Y
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 8, 2025
In a tense encounter, Berrettini failed to serve out the match at 5-4 but recovered in style. At 5-5, 40/40, he won an absorbing 48-shot rally with a forehand winner and then earned the break when Zverev was unable to retrieve the ball in the backhand corner.
Pumped up, the 28-year-old did not falter at the second time of asking, sealing victory on serve to triumph after two hours and 27 minutes. Following his dramatic win, the World No. 34 raised his arms aloft and soaked in the roars from the sunbaked crowd.
Berrettini has won 17 of his past 18 matches on clay. Last season, the 28-year-old lifted ATP Tour clay-court titles in Marrakech, Gstaad and Kitzbuhel, while he defeated Mariano Navone in his Monte-Carlo opener in his first match on the surface on Monday.
“I grew up on clay, playing on it until 19,” Berrettini said. “On Tour we don’t play on it as much but at the same time I have missed the biggest tournament on clay for the past three years and that was tough and now I want to enjoy it. I feel really comfortable on clay.”
He will next play Jiri Lehecka or countryman Lorenzo Musetti, who was the last Italian to defeat a Top-2 opponent on clay prior to Berrettini (Djokovic Monte-Carlo 2023).
Zverev suffered disappointing quarter-final exits on clay earlier this year in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. The 27-year-old will next head to the ATP 500 event on home soil in Munich.
In other action, Italian Flavio Cobolli backed up his Bucharest title by moving past Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-2 in his opening match in Monte-Carlo. Cobolli, who defeated Sebastian Baez in Romania to win his first ATP Tour title, will play Arthur Fils or Tallon Griekspoor in the second round.
Tomas Martin Etcheverry moved past Corentin Moutet 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, while Roberto Bautista Agut downed Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 6-4. Tomas Machac defeated Baez 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 and will next meet eighth seed Alex de Minaur.
