Matteo Berrettini continues to offer very encouraging signs ahead of Wimbledon. After the excellent performance in Stuttgart, the Roman tennis player also starts off in the best way in the ATP 500 in Halle, beating in straight sets on his debut the American Alex Michelsen, number 61 in the world, with the score 7-6 6-2 in just over an hour and a half of play.
In the next round Berrettini will face the American Marcos Giron, who yesterday surprisingly beat the Russian Andrey Rublev. A very good performance from the blue, who reached double figures in the ace count (13). His performance with the first serve was also excellent, given that he won 81% of the points with this shot.
Complicated start of the match for Berrettini, who in the first innings of the match hands off the service immediately. Michelsen escapes at 3-0 and then at 4-1 and seems to have no problems serving, but in the seventh game Berrettini gets a break point and uses it immediately, thanks to a backhand error by the American. Michelsen manages to cancel a break point in the eleventh game thanks to a fantastic backhand and we consequently go to the tie-break, which is won by Berrettini 7-5.
At the start of the second set, we follow the progress of the service rounds and reach the sixth game, when Berrettini gets a break point. The Roman invents an amazing crossed passer and takes the lead to 4-2. Michelsen suffers from the break immediately and is no longer able to react. In the eighth game Berrettini gets to 0-40 and even closes at the first match point with a one-handed backhand pass after a very hard-fought exchange. It ends 6-2 and Berrettini flies to the second round.
