Just days after winning his first trophy since returning to the ATP Tour, Matteo Berrettini suffered a brutal loss against Miomir Kecmanovic at the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters.
This was always going to be a very tricky turnaround for the Italian because he finished on Sunday in Marrakech and had to make the trip back to Europe quickly in time for the Monte-Carlo Masters.
He likely would have played better in this first-round match if he had a full week of preparation on the courts at the ATP Masters 1000 event, but he won a trophy in Marrakech, so it's not all for nothing.
The matchup was a bit complicated on paper, but it's mostly fatigue and the short turnaround that impacted Berrettini. Kecmanovic is not an overtly spectacular player on clay, but he played amazingly in this match.
The start was quite interesting as the Serbian took a 2-1 lead but then got broken for the 2-2 score, only to break once more for the 3-2 score. He held his serve for the rest of the set, finishing it off with another break to win the opening set 6-3.
It wasn't a very good match for the Italian, who played fairly decently, but Kecmanovic just outhit from the baseline. He was very aggressive on the second serve, and it worked out for him.
The second set was quite similar, but this time around, it was even less close. The Italian served a tiny bit worse but tried to compensate for that with a very aggressive approach.
He had to do something to counter Kecmanovic, but it didn't work out, as he piled up the errors quickly. In the end, the Serbian won the second set 6-1 to win the match 6-3 6-1, which was a big win for him.
It was a bit disappointing for Berrettini, but he has been back for a while, and the Madrid Open is coming up. He's had success there in the past.
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