Follow us on Google Discover The final ATP 500 events of the season are officially underway as stars look to fine-tune their games ahead of the Paris Masters.
At the Swiss Indoors in Basel, home hope and three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka clinched his first hard-court victory of the season, while second seed Ben Shelton also got himself back in the win column.
Shanghai Masters champion Valentin Vacherot appeared for the first time since his incredible triumph in China, but was narrowly beaten by world number four Taylor Fritz.
Meanwhile, at the Vienna Open, Jannik Sinner made his return to tour-level action with a dominant win over Daniel Altmaier.
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Daniil Medvedev continued his winning streak following the end of his title drought in Almaty, coming through a hard-fought match with Nuno Borges.
Among the packed lineup in Vienna, one former Wimbledon finalist, like Medvedev, has put an end to a drought on the ATP Tour.
Matteo Berrettini ends six-month wait for consecutive wins
The 2021 runner-up at the All England Club, Matteo Berrettini, has finally ended his six-month wait for consecutive wins at the Vienna Open.
Berrettini last won two matches in a row at the Monte-Carlo Masters in April, where he reached the round of 16 after beating both Mariano Navone and Alexander Zverev.
Since then, however, the Italian has struggled for consistency.
- Madrid Open – 1 win
- Italian Open – 1 win
- Wimbledon – 0 wins
- Hangzhou Open – 0 wins
- Japan Open – 1 win
- Shanghai Masters – 0 wins
- Stockholm Open – 1 win
His dry spell has been snapped in Austria, with Berrettini emerging victorious in his opening match against Alexei Popyrin before following it up with a win against Cam Norrie to book his spot in the quarterfinals.
His clash with Norrie went three sets and lasted three hours and 15 minutes, the longest bout of the tournament so far.
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Berrettini drew first blood, claiming the opening set in a tiebreak, before the Briton responded with a tiebreak victory of his own, winning the set-two shootout 11-9 to force a decider.
In the third set, Berrettini secured the all-important break of serve to win 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 and set up a last-eight meeting with Alex de Minaur.
Matteo Berrettini’s head-to-head record with Alex de Minaur
At tour-level events, Berrettini has met his quarterfinal opponent, de Minaur, four times, and leads their head-to-head 3-1.
They first played each other in the semifinal of Queen’s in 2021, where Berrettini won before going on to clinch the grass-court title.
De Minaur opened his account in the rivalry at the ATP Cup in 2022, besting his Queen’s conqueror in straight sets in front of a home crowd in Sydney,
The Australians lost their next two ties, however, falling to Berrettini at Wimbledon in 2023 and the Miami Open earlier this year.