Former World number 1 Andy Murray and Italy’s Matteo Berrettini faced fluctuating fortunes on day two of the Stuttgart Open as both continue their long journey back from injuries.
Murray took on Marcos Giron looking for the win to take him into the second round and a meeting against compatriot Jack Draper but a single break of serve was enough in each set for his American opponent to come through 6-3, 6-4 as Murray struggled to make any impact on his return games.
“I had a few opportunities but couldn’t break. I’ve been struggling the last few tournaments,” said Murray afterwards. “At the moment, my service is just not there. I wasn’t able to do anything. It’s very fast here, as you can see from the results. A lot of close games. He was more accurate than me.”
Meanwhile Berrettini, who was once as high as six in the world but now languishing at 95, spent nearly three hours on court in his first match since Monte-Carlo in April before winning 7-6, 5-7, 7-5 against Roman Safiullin, a former World junior number two.
Thirty-year-old Giron was making his third appearance in Stuttgart and his biggest win was against world number six Holger Rune at the ATP 1000 in Toronto last year. He settled well in the opening exchanges in the first meeting between the two. Both players held serve until two games all.
However, a terrible sequence saw Murray lose twelve of the next fourteen points as he was broken before Giron held to love to open up a 5-2 lead. He soon took the set 6-3 along with nine winners and four aces as well as saving the only breakpoint he faced.
Murray, who reached world number one in 2016 held serve at the start of the second set, but immediately faced more pressure in his next service game and fell 0-40 down with two unforced errors. He won the next point with a good serve but then conceded the break on a double fault and Giron held throughout to take it 6-4.
Interestingly, both players have had hip surgeries – Giron’s right hip was operated on in 2015 and left hip a year later, while double Wimbledon champion Murray’s hip resurfacing operation has been well documented. Murray insisted that he still feels good on court: “Physically I feel ok, my ankle feels good, but my game still needs to improve. The level on the tour now is very high, I just have to play better if I want to win matches. I have a lot of work ahead of me. It’s been tough since the injury in Miami.”
Murray, who is reaching the end of his illustrious career, is the only player with at least seven victories over the “Big Three”. It remains to be seen when he decides to hang up his racket, but Murray explained that he has a clear schedule ahead, for the next month at least. “Next week I’m playing in Queens, then Wimbledon and then I’ll have to see what happens at the Olympics. I’m not quite sure whether I’ll also play doubles or just singles. My body didn’t feel good on clay, so I’ll have to wait and see.”
The second main match of the day featured eighth seed Roman Safiullin against Matteo Berrettini who was playing under a protected ranking as he continues his journey back from injury. Since the event in Stuttgart changed to grass in 2015, he has won the tournament twice (2019, 2022) and was competing for the first time since Monte-Carlo in April.
The first meeting between the two was an incredibly tight affair. Berrettini loves the faster surfaces, having won four of his eight tour titles on the grass, and he took the opening set on a tie-break but 26-year-old Safiullin hit back at the critical moment when the scores were level at five games all in the second set to snatch the first break of serve before levelling the match at one set all.
In the third set Berrettini upped his serving with 13 aces as well coming through a huge game when 15-40 down at 2-2. In all he saved all four breakpoints and stayed ahead until 6-5 when he put all his efforts in the last game as he tried to break serve for the match, and he succeeded on his fourth attempt, closing out the contest in five minutes short of three hours 7-6, 5-7, 7-6.
“I don’t have energy left!” said Berrettini on court after his victory. “It’s my first match after a few months, I was hoping for something easier. I think the most important thing now is to rest, then hopefully tomorrow I’m going to play, practice, and relax. I think my physio has to do a great job in order for me to feel in the best shape.”
When asked about his performance today, he replied: “I’m really proud of the way I fought. This wasn’t my best level but I didn’t expect anything different after not playing for so many months to come back and play good. So, I just told myself to fight and be there and enjoy. But I missed the clay court season and I’m really happy to be here and for my win. I have worked really hard to come back, I love to play here in front of you guys, the first match is done, let’s see about the second one.”
Signed up as a long-term global brand ambassador for Boss – headline sponsors at this event – Berrettini was quick to acknowledge the extra support he receives here and thanked the fans: “It’s unbelievable, it feels like I am in Italy, everybody is cheering for me, I really appreciate your support, obviously being part of the Boss family here helps, but I have to say here even from the first time in 2019, I’ve had a lot of support and I’m never going to be able to thank you guys enough.”
Earlier on, the first scheduled match on centre court saw world number 30 Lorenzo Musetti face qualifier Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard from France in their first meeting. In a typical grass court battle where serve dominated, both players won a huge 77% of points behind first serve and neither managed to break serve.
Perricard was making his debut at this event and is currently enjoying his career-high ranking of 66, having recently capturing his maiden ATP tour title in Lyon beating Alexander Bublik on the way. He possesses a huge first delivery, regularly hitting the 145mph mark, with one clocked at a staggering 148mph. As with all great servers, they manage to pull out the big serves for when it matters most – and he saved all eight breakpoints against him with booming power leaving Musetti exasperated at times.
But it was Musetti, who was two sets to one ahead against Novak Djokovic in the third round of the French Open before losing in five, who managed to stay composed in the important moments and won both tie-breakers 11-9 to progress 7-6, 7-6 against his 20-year-old opponent.
In other matches around the ground, James Duckworth beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 7-6, Brandon Nakashima overcome former champion Christopher Eubanks 7-6, 6-4, while Arthur Rinderknech also went through in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 over Alex Michelsen. Canada’s Denis Shapavalov won against France’s Matteo Martineau 7-6, 7-5. And, in the last match of the day on centre court, Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff – who lost in last year’s final having had a match point against Frances Tiafoe – beat Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 7-6, 6-3.
