Berrettini keeps cool for Marrakech QF spot

After a comfortable opening win, Matteo Berrettini was made to dig deep for second-round victory Wednesday at the Grand Prix Hassan II.

The Italian prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 against Jaume Munar in an absorbing clash at the clay-court ATP 250. Berrettini at one point led 6-4, 3-1 and 0/40 on his opponent’s serve but was ultimately forced to grind out a three-set victory in Marrakech.

“That’s tennis I guess,” said Berrettini, who had dropped just three games in his first round against Alexander Shevchenko. “I’m really proud of what I did at that moment, but at the same time if you start to think too much about what happened you are never going to be able to win a match like this.

“For sure I cursed myself a little bit, but the best thing you can do is think about the next point and how you are going to win the match. That’s what I did. I forgave myself for that moment and kept going, and at the end I got the win.”

Matteo moves on 🚀

He takes his second win in Marrakech with a 6-4 4-6 6-3 win over Munar ⚡️

📸: #GrandPrixHassanll pic.twitter.com/Q30yX8icfs

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 3, 2024

Berrettini converted four of 13 break points overall in his first Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Munar. The former No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings, who is playing just his second ATP Tour event of the year after missing six months with an ankle injury, also won 74 per cent (43/58) of points behind his first serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Awaiting Berrettini in the quarter-finals on his Marrakech debut will be his countryman Lorenzo Sonego. The fourth seed overcame a slow start to down Sumit Nagal 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

All four singles matches on Wednesday’s schedule in Marrakech featured an Italian player. Flavio Cobolli was unable to join Berrettini and Sonego in the last eight, however, as Pavel Kotov downed the eighth seed 6-1, 7-6(5).

In the final match of the day, Fabio Fognini will bid for his 75th tour-level quarter-final when he takes on top seed Laslo Djere.