By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday June 13, 2024
The Italian prevailed in a battle of former Top-10 talents to book a quarterfinal slot in Stuttgart.
Photo Source: TTV
2019 and 2022 Stuttgart champion Matteo Berrettini is back on his favorite surface and hoping for another deep run in Germany.
The former Wimbledon finalist, competing his first event since Monte-Carlo, made it two consecutive wins on Wednesday, edging Canadian Denis Shapovalov, 6-4, 6-4.
Berrettini improves his impressive lifetime record on grass to 38-8 with the win, and sets a quarterfinal with Aussie James Duckworth, who took out second-seeded Ben Shelton 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3.
“I know that so far in my career I’ve been pretty successful on grass,” Berrettini. “I think it’s my best surface, and I love to play [on it], especially here in Stuttgart. I’m really happy to be in the quarter-finals. Now I need to rest a little bit and wait until tomorrow to think about tomorrow.”
28-year-old Berrettini only faced one break point on the afternoon, and he saved it in the second game of the match. He scored a late break, in the ninth game of the opening set, and held at 15 to clinch the opener.
In the second set he broke for 3-2, and held serve the rest of the way to finish his win in 76 minutes.
95th-ranked Berrettini improves to 11-1 lifetime at Stuttgart, and 7-2 overall in 2024.
117-ranked Shapovalov drops to 10-15 on the year. 101-ranked James Duckworth ousted No.2-seeded Ben Shelton for his fourth career Top-20 win and his first since 2021.
The 32-year-old Aussie qualifier faced only one break point and was flawless in the third set as he converted his third break point in a tense eighth game to lead 5-3 and served out the win in the next game.
Jan-Lennard Struff (d. Rinderknech) and Brandon Nakashima (d. Gasquet) also reached the quarterfinals on Thursday in Stuttgart.