Tennis, Berrettini advances at the Paris masters, Djokovic also does well

An almost flawless performance on serve allowed Matteo Berrettini to take his first joy at the Masters 1000 in Paris, where in previous participations he had never made it past the first round. Under his hammer blows, 17 aces were landed, the strong American Brandon Nakashima (n.18 ATP) surrendered, to whom the blue canceled two match points in the tie break of the third set to win 6-4, 3-6, 7-6.

At 16/i, Berrettini will have to face the Frenchman Ugo Humbert (n.38), finalist two years ago in the Parisian tournament and who so far is at a 3-2 disadvantage in head-to-head matches. Good debut also for Novak Djokovic, who won in three sets over the Monegasque Valentin Vacherot 6-7, 7-5, 6-1, and, again in an Italian key, for Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the doubles tournament, where they reached the round of 16 beating the Germans Jakob Shnaitter and Mark Wallner 6-3, 3-6, 10-6. Flavio Cobolli should have also taken to the field, but yesterday he decided to give up the tournament to get back in shape after his injury in Vienna in view of the ATP Finals, which should have him as the protagonist.

The tiring success allows Djokovic to still cultivate the dream of winning a place in the Finals, even if he is currently eleventh in the Race to Turin and to succeed in the feat he will have to reach at least the semi-finals in Paris and have a 'help' from some rivals. "I expected a match like this, with very few break opportunities for me - declared Djokovic -. Valentin has a formidable serve and for half the match I had difficulty reading him. The third set was really good, but very physically tiring. I'm still here, I resist and continue to give my all, trying to find my best level when it counts", underlined the Serbian, who will face the Australian Rinky Hijikata (n.83).