INDIAN WELLS (USA) (ITALPRESS) – Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Musetti reach the third round at the Indian Wells Masters 1000, the first of the season, scheduled at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden ($8,963,700 prize pool) along with the WTA 1000.
Like ten days ago in Dubai, Berrettini, 29th in the Atp rankings and 28th seed, back in the Top 30 for the first time since June 2023, defeated Cristopher O’Connell (75) in two sets and with mirrored scores, 7-6(2) 6-2 then, 6-2 7-6(2) on this occasion. Incidentally, it was against the Australian that he had also achieved his only Masters 1000 victory in 2024, in Shanghai. A curiosity in the first set: on 5-5 30-15, five minutes of review at the “Var” for an alleged invasion of the Roman denied by the analysis of the images. In the third round, Berrettini will meet Stefanos Tsitsipas, No. 9 Atp and No. 8 seed, who won on his debut 6-2 6-4 over Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild: he will thus have a chance to redeem the defeat suffered by less than the Greek in the quarters in Dubai.
Instead, Lorenzo Musetti, No. 16 ATP and 15th seeded force, defeated 7-5 5-7 6-2 Russia’s Roman Safiullin (69), who had won two of the three previous direct confrontations, at the Bergamo Challenger in 2019 and in the semifinals in Chengdu in 2023. Musetti had won the most recent, last year in Miami, over the same Laykold applied from this year also on the Indian Wells courts. Musetti, who played with a bandaged right calf due to the injury that forced him to miss the South American season and the ATP 500 in Acapulco, thus achieved his third career Indian Wells Masters 1000 main draw success in seven matches and equaled his best finish in the tournament, the third round reached last year. To hit his first round of 16 he will have to beat Frenchman Arthur Fils, world number 21, who dominated Canadian Gabriel Diallo, number 88, 6-2 6-2.
Whoever wins already has one certainty, he will not face Norway’s Casper Ruud, the highest seed (4) in this slice of the scoreboard at the start of the tournament, who was eliminated in his debut by Marcos Giron of the United States 7-6(4) 3-6 6-2.
– Photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
