Matteo Berrettini withdraws from Davis Cup tie against South Korea in Cagliari

In the second edition of the Davis Cup Qualifiers, Italy will host South Korea in Cagliari on March 6-7, standing as the favorite in front of the home fans and clay court. Fabio Fognini, Lorenzo Sonego, Gianluca Mager, Stefano Travaglia and Simone Bolelli will lead the home nation, with world no. 8 Matteo Berrettini still struggling with an injury that has been bothering him since the end of 2019. Matteo has played only two matches so far in 2020 at the Australian Open, skipping both the ATP Cup and all the events after Melbourne, hoping to get ready for Indian Wells and Miami and chase the first serious points of the season following the second-round loss at the Australian Open. The Rome native had a fantastic previous year that propelled him towards the ATP Finals debut, making excellent progress since the end of April to earn the ATP Most Improved Player of the Year honor ahead of Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Due to that injury, Matteo did lose six of the last seven encounters in 2019 but it still was a breakthrough season that he would remember for good. The 23-year-old Berrettini cracked the top-10 in the last week of October, joining Adriano Panatta, Corrado Barazzutti and Fabio Fognini as the fourth Italian on the exclusive list, getting there despite a slow start of the year when no one thought he is capable of accomplishing that task. Matteo couldn't make any progress until the last week of April, dropping nine of the first 15 ATP matches and remaining in the top-60 thanks to 125 points earned at Phoenix Challenger, competing there between two early losses in Indian Wells and Miami. With five straight ATP defeats, Matteo went to Budapest and found his best tennis, overcoming a deficit in the final against Filip Krajinovic to lift the second ATP title that couldn't come in the better moment. A week later, the Italian advanced into another final in Munich, entering the top-35 and reaching the last 16 at home in Rome for more success on dirt.

Switching to grass, Berrettini competed at his first ATP tournament as the top-30 player in Stuttgart and delivered rock-solid tennis to topple five opponents and lift the second crown of the season, facing two break points in the entire week for a dominant run! Matteo was also the semi-finalist in Halle, reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon as well before slowing down a little bit, returning even stronger at the US Open and using a favorable draw to secure the first Major semi-final, ousted by Rafael Nadal in straight sets. With two more notable wins under his belt in Shanghai, Matteo stayed on the course towards the elite group after advancing into the semis, joining the top-10 and staying in contention for the ATP Finals. That dream almost vanished in Paris after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took him down in the second round, struggling with an injury and having to wait for the results of his closest opponents to secure the London berth.

Matteo's fate was in Denis Shapovalov's hands, with the Canadian defeating Gael Monfils who had the opportunity to ensure his place at the premium ATP event ahead of the Italian. As always, Gael cracked under pressure and lost 6-2, 6-2, propelling Berrettini towards the ATP Finals for the first time where he joined Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev as the third debutant. In London, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer proved to be too strong for Berrettini who closed the action with a win over Dominic Thiem, adding 200 points to his tally and heading to the Davis Cup Finals in Madrid where Denis Shapovalov and Taylor Fritz defeated him in close encounters.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2wGPaZI