Berrettini Stunned At Miami Open As Struggles With Form Continue

Matteo Berrettini played two tie-breaks and lost both to lose to Mackenzie McDonald at the 2023 Miami Open.

Berrettini has had an interesting journey so far in 2023. Tennis hasn’t been kind to the big-serving gentle giant, with injuries showing up more than he would have liked.

The year started in Australia for him, like for everyone else, and he played fairly well, all things considered, earning a few wins. He kept a similar pace in the following events so that he arrived in Miami with seven wins and six losses.

His American opponent in Miami was a textbook example of a very underrated player. McDonald can be very tough to beat with his solid serve and decent shot-making, albeit he rarely materializes his qualities to their full potential.

He did in this match. The American outlasted Berrettini in a very tricky matchup that went well over two hours and featured two tie-breaks. Berrettini didn’t play his best tennis, even though he served amazingly.

He lost only five points in total behind his opening serve, which is a great stat. However, he looked markedly different on the second serve. When the power was taken away, McDonald was largely successful in troubling Berrettini.

The Italian tried to make up for it with aggressiveness but failed to do that, as he totaled 30 unforced errors, 25 of which were in live play. Meanwhile, he had only 16 winners in live play, which isn’t a good ratio.

McDonald was also stable overall, not committing too many errors and doing just enough, whether with his serve or with his baseline play. It was a very solid effort from Berrettini but not quite good enough to overcome the very solid American, who won the match 7-6(8), 7-6(5).