Matteo Berrettini’s body is holding on for a strong Shanghai victory over Christopher O’Connell | ATP Tour

Shanghai

Berrettini’s body is holding on to a strong Shanghai victory over O’Connell

The Italian returned with a win after withdrawing from Tokyo last week.

October 03, 2024

Former Top 10 Italian Matteo Berrettini has set up a second-round showdown with Holger Rune at the Rolex Shanghai Masters after defeating Australia’s Christopher O’Connell in two tight sets in China on Thursday.

Berrettini smashed 33 winners, including 11 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in a 7-6(9), 7-6(6) victory over World No. 71 O’Connell for his first win of the season at the ATP Masters. Level 1000. The game lasted two hours and 13 minutes.

Number 45 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Berrettini said he felt confident in his body after withdrawing in the second round of Tokyo against Arthur Fils with a stomach problem.

“I’m happy to be back here and I’m healthy. I’ve never played him before so I didn’t know what to expect,” said Berrettini, who battled to two sets in the first set break.

“Mentally it was difficult… Many times I’ve been thinking about how to be healthy and it’s something I’ve become tired of. I’ve been working hard to be able to think less about this.

“It was one of the goals of the game. Not thinking about my situation, enjoying the game, enjoying the atmosphere, what I did.”

Back with a bang 💥

Matteo Berrettini defeated O’Connell 7-6(9) 7-6(6) to record his first ATP Masters 1000 win of the season.@SH_RolexMasters | #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/mqUkXFJcDu

– ATP Tour (@atptour) October 3, 2024

Berrettini follows Rune 1-2 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. The Danes made a big splash sitting in Cincinnati in August looking for their latest meeting.