Matteo Berrettini will meet fellow Italian Jannik Sinner in the second round of the 2023 Canadian Open in Toronto on Wednesday, August 9, 2023.
Berrettini and Sinner face off in an all-Italian clash. It's a matchup that is fit enough to grace the deep end of any big tournament, but we'll get it almost at the start of it. That is largely because Berrettini has lost his status as a Top 10 player on the ATP Tour in the last 12 months.
Obviously, a lot of that is because of injuries, limiting the Italian big server to just nine tournaments in the first seven months of the season. It was an absolute nightmare for the 27-year-old who recently detailed the struggles he went through before pulling it all together.
A run to the fourth round of Wimbledon was a rare chink of sunlight to what has been a turbulent year. He won his opening match at the Canadian Open on Monday, beating France's Gregoire Barrere in straight sets. He hammered 10 aces in the match and converted four of his seven break points.
Sinner, for his part, had a bye in the first round, but learned of his projected draw in earnest last week when he took part during the ceremony. He'll play his first match since falling to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of Wimbledon.
Head-to-head:
Remarkably, Berrettini and Sinner have never played each other on the ATP Tour, so that can only add to the intrigue.
Prediction:
On the evidence of his run to the second week of Wimbledon, we can only hope Berrettini is past this injury nightmare. He secured a very good win over Barrere to cool fears of a recurrence of that abdominal tear.
In a match that we expected to be a lot more serve-oriented, Berrettini actually returned very well and was able to pick his spots behind his humongous first serve (landed 86% first serves). His level has gotten better and the signs are promising that he might salvage whatever is left of this season.
I think he'll nab a set, but Sinner's game should have a lot more bite to pose questions behind the return.
Prediction: Jannik Sinner in 3 sets.
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