Jannik Sinner was “robbed” in the middle of the Cincinnati Masters 1000: there was nothing he could do about it.
On the Italian afternoon, Italian fans witnessed two matches in one. The protagonist of the first one was a deluxe Matteo Berrettini, who hammered and whipped Holger Rune mercilessly. It was just a pity that at the end of the first set another match started, in fact, completely different, moreover, from the previous one.
The epilogue of the first round in Cincinnati was not the best for the Roman tennis player, but the defeat he suffered does not take away, however, from the fact that in the first partial he was absolutely extraordinary. The opaque performance in the next two sets is objective, unequivocal, but it was to be expected that in the transition from clay to concrete Berrettini might not shine. Especially in the face of an opponent who was able to find the high road again immediately and give his Italian opponent a run for his money.
What happened in Ohio allowed Matteo, for better or worse, to put his signature on a feat that has the unbelievable. Thanks to the match played against Rune, in fact, the former number 1 of Italy has officially entered the history of the Open era, with a record that faithfully photographs how continuous he has been in the last period.
Berrettini only needed one more: mission accomplished
Let’s start by saying that, beyond the result of the match against the young Dane, Berrettini’s new record has distant roots.
In his last 10 matches, five of them in Gstaad and as many in Kitzbuhel, the 2021 Wimbledon finalist had not let his rivals drop a single set. He had thus collected a beauty of 20 consecutive sets won, but was unaware that the best was yet to come. By the time he took the court, the record was in the hands of Jannik Sinner, who thus suffered, in the truest sense of the word, an August bank holiday robbery.
He of sets won in a row had sent 20, straddling the Davis Cup semifinals and the penultimate act of the Australian Open. Matteo has flown, now, to 21, so that will be the record, now, to beat. The streak is now broken, but it remains, that’s for sure, the fact that in recent weeks, though coming back from months of stalemate, Berrettini has been amazing and incredibly continuous.