Nice and far from obvious victory for Matteo Berrettini in the first round of the ATP 500 tournament on the grass of Halle. The Italian had to shake off the uncomfortable Alex Michelsen, an American born in 2004 with an effective game on grass: 7-6 (5) 6-2 for Berrettini, fresh from the final lost in Stuttgart against Jack Draper. Matteo’s season on the grass is therefore continuing well: in the round of 16 there will be a challenge against Marcos Giron, who ousted Andrey Rublev in two sets in the first round.
the match
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The match between Berrettini and Michelsen was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but was postponed to today due to rain. More hours at Matteo’s disposal to recharge after last week’s climb in Stuttgart, while his opponent had the advantage of having played the qualifiers and therefore being used to the conditions in Halle. The first set was tight: Berrettini did well to recover the break deficit (3-0 and 4-1 at the beginning for the opponent) and to take the partial to a tie break, winning seven points to five. Balance broken in a few points, therefore. The fight continued at the beginning of the second set, but Matteo was good at moving his opponent more and serving more consistently: thanks to a double break, he closed the set and match with a splendid pass with his one-handed backhand seal the meeting.
