Berrettini Starts Shanghai Campaign; Fellow London Contender Monfils Beaten

Matteo Berrettini continued his quest on Tuesday for one of the three remaining spots at the Nitto ATP Finals in November by reaching the Rolex Shanghai Masters second round.

The Italian No. 11 seed soon broke down the power game of Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in a 6-2, 6-1 victory over 62 minutes. It was his 36th match win of a breakthrough season (and his 30th victory since 22 April).

Having started last week in eighth position in the 2019 ATP Race To London, strong performances by season finale contenders Alexander Zverev and David Goffin, saw Berrettini drop two spots to 11th place (2,230). He is now just 25 points away from eighth-placed Zverev, with less than five weeks to go until the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November.

Berrettini, who captured ATP Tour titles at the Hungarian Open in Budapest (d. Krajinovic) and at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart (d. Auger-Aliassime), will next face Chile’s Cristian Garin, who is also a two-time champion in 2019.

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Later in the day, Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz dented Gael Monfils’ hopes of making up ground on London contenders by beating the Frenchman 6-2, 7-6(1) in 76 minutes in the second round. Ninth seed Monfils, currently 12th in the ATP Race To London (2,170 points), had been hoping to remain within 15 points of Berrettini.

In the same quarter of the draw, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime booked his place in the second round, where he will meet sixth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, when leading Alexander Bublik 7-6(5), 4-0 when the Kazakhstani qualifier retired. Auger-Aliassime or Tsitsipas will face Hurkacz.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2AQDP8b