Matteo Berrettini vs Felix Auger-Aliassime: 2023 Cincinnati Masters - Preview & Prediction
Good friends Matteo Berrettini and Felix Auger-Aliassime will face each other in the 2023 Cincinnati Masters round one.
Matteo Berrettini and Felix Auger-Aliassime are very good friends, having spent plenty of time outside of the courts together. It's unclear how close they are right now because their connection was through their girlfriends. Berretitni's former girlfriend, Ajla Tomljanovic, and Auger-Aliassime's current girlfriend, Nina Ghaibi, are actually cousins.
They all used to spend a lot of time together as both Auger-Aliassime and Matteo Berrettini call Monaco home. Okay back to tennis. So they are quite familiar with each other on the court as well; mostly because they played several times but also because they practiced together.
Head-to-head:
They played five times so far on the ATP Tour, and Berrettini reigns supreme in this matchup. The Canadian won only one match and it actually happened in Cincinnati in 2021. It was a rather simple straight-sets win, but I don't think we'll see the same thing again. They haven't played since last year's Laver Cup. Berrettini won that match.
Prediction:
Both of them struggled greatly this year. They had injuries that severely hampered how they can play, which then shattered their confidence. Berrettini is out of that funk, putting forward some pretty solid performances in the past month.
Auger-Alissime isn't as he suffered a shocking upset at the Canadian Open last week. Berrettini didn't have a deep run, but he looked a lot better than his opponent. So what might happen here? Well, let's see. The court should favour Berrettini in terms of his serve giving him plenty of free points.
Auger is a potent server as well, but not as deadly as Berrettini. The court is of a decent speed which won't give either too much of an advantage, but the balls used can give players some trouble with control. Both can struggle with that but Auger-Aliassime is the far worse offender in that regard, and I think that will be his downfall.
Prediction: Matteo Berrettini to win in straight sets.
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