Berrettini Sent Packing
- Matteo Berrettini suffered an early Madrid Open exit after losing to a qualifier on day one. (tennisuptodate.com) - His first‑round defeat was one of several surprise ATP upsets opening the tournament. (tennisuptodate.com) - That loss increases opportunity for lower-ranked clay specialists to progress deep in Madrid this week. (tennisuptodate.com)
Matteo Berrettini’s Madrid Open ended on April 22 with a straight-sets loss to qualifier Dino Prizmic in the first round. (atptour.com) Prizmic, a 20-year-old Croatian, beat Berrettini 6-3, 6-4 on Manolo Santana Stadium after coming through two qualifying matches to reach the main draw. He won 79% of his first-serve points, according to ATP Stats. (atptour.com) The result was logged in the ATP Masters 1000 round of 96 on Wednesday, April 22, one of the opening men’s singles days at Caja Mágica. Madrid’s men’s main draw runs from April 22 to May 3, with the top 32 seeds receiving first-round byes. (atptour.com) (olympics.com) Berrettini arrived with a Madrid pedigree that made the loss stand out. He was the 2021 runner-up in the event, losing that final to Alexander Zverev, and ATP Tour coverage identified him this week as a former World No. 6. (atptour.com 1) (atptour.com 2) Prizmic’s win also shifted the shape of that section of the draw. Instead of Berrettini facing fourth seed Ben Shelton in the second round, Prizmic moved on to a first meeting with Shelton, who arrived in Madrid after winning the ATP 500 title in Munich on April 19. (atptour.com 1) (atptour.com 2) Madrid often opens space for players outside the top tier because 96 players enter the singles draw and only the top 32 are seeded. Early exits by unseeded veterans and lower-ranked direct entrants can quickly clear a path for qualifiers and clay-court specialists. (olympics.com) (atptour.com) That happened across the men’s draw on the same day. Thiago Agustin Tirante beat Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-4, Emilio Nava beat Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 7-5, and Dusan Lajovic advanced as a qualifier by beating Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 7-6(1). (atptour.com) For Prizmic, the upset fit a broader climb that has accelerated this month. ATP rankings history shows he made his Top 100 debut on April 13 at No. 87, and the ATP reported that the Berrettini win lifted him seven live spots to No. 80. (atptour.com 1) (atptour.com 2) Berrettini is out before the seeded players fully enter, and Madrid’s bracket already looks different because of it. The next test in that slot now belongs to Prizmic, not the former finalist he just knocked out. (atptour.com)
