As expected, Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Sonego took off the pass for the third round of the Australian Open, first Grand Slam of 2022 (prize money of 54.2 million dollars) underway on the concrete of Melbourne Park in the Australian metropolis. The third blue in the race for the second round, Jannik Sinner, will return to the field on Thursday.
LIVE SCORES AND RESULTS
For now there is almost no trace of the best version of Matteo Berrettini but that’s okay, as the race for the blue number one continues. After a not so simple debut – success in four sets on the American Brandon Nakashima, n.68 ATP – also due to stomach pain (eloquent “Imodium grazie”, written on the camera lens), the 25 year old Roman, 7 of the ranking and seeding, probably still a little weakened, beat 61 46 64 61, after more than two and a half hours of battle, lo statunitense Stefan Kozlov, n.169 of the ranking, on the scoreboard thanks to a wild card.
There was no precedent for the 25-year-old from Rome – in his fifth participation in the Slam Down Under where he boasts last year’s round of 16 as his best result when, due to an abdominal injury remedied in the third round against the Russian Khachanov, he did not even take the field against Tsitsipas – and the 23-year-old of Macedonian origin (born in Skopje), who was playing the Happy Slam for the first time. Convincing start by Matteo, who from 1-1 put in a streak of six consecutive games that allowed him to quickly close the first set (6-1), on a double foul by his opponent, and to start off on the right foot also in the second partial.
Slowly, however, the American began to acquire certainties while the performance of the blue dropped quite dramatically. In the third game Berrettini canceled a break point with an ace, in the following one he failed three consecutive break points and in the seventh game it was he who gave up the serve for the first time in the match with an error in law. Matteo did not take advantage of four opportunities to return immediately to the set and in the tenth game, after having canceled two more chances for the counter-break, Kozlov equalized the set count with a winning right (6-4).
The third set, in the name of balance, actually decided the match. Berrettini conceded only two points in five batting rounds and then in the tenth game he took advantage of the only chance offered by the American and with a winning backhand he secured the partial (6-4). Fourth fraction one-way, also thanks to a resentment in Kozlov’s left thigh, probably cramps: Berrettini jumped forward 3-0 and then closed 6-1 with an ace, the number 21, after having canceled a ball with a winning right -break.
On Friday in the third round Berrettini will have to bring out his best tennis: on the other side of the net he will find the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, n.31 in the ranking and seeding, on his second participation in Melbourne where for the first time he won two matches (both in three sets). The 18-year-old from El Palmar (Murcia) won at the tie-break of the decisive set the only previous one with the blue, played in the quarterfinals on the fast indoor in Vienna or last year.
The exclusion of Nole made the tennis player’s scoreboard a little less complicated, followed by coach Vincenzo Santopadre, who had happened for the fourth time in the last four Grand Slams (!) On the side of the number one in the world and who theoretically could have faced in the quarters.
