Carlos Alcaraz knocked out of the Australian Open by Matteo Berrettini in a five-set epic

Matteo Berrettini is into the fourth round of the Australian Open for the second time in his career after beating Spanish phenom Carlos Alcaraz 6-2 7-6(3) 4-6 2-6 7-6(5) in a high quality match on Rod Laver Arena. The 2021 Wimbledon finalist won the epic contest in four hours and 13 minutes and overcame an opponent he lost to in their only meeting at the Vienna Open last October. Berrettini was blown away by the quality of the Spanish teenager.

Ad/> «Unbelievable, when I was 18 I didn't even have my first ATP point,» he said afterwards. Australian OpenBerrettini sets up Alcaraz clash after edging past Kozlov19/01/2022 AT 03:48 «He's impressive. He can only improve playing matches like this.

He showed everybody his potential. Really congrats to him.» Alcaraz began aggressively and it startled the Italian who had to rescue four break points in his opening service game, but the 25-year-old retained his composure and 26 minutes in he secured a break to go 3-2 up. Errors crept into Alcaraz’s game while Berrettini was doing well off his first serve.

After securing the break in the fifth game, Berrettini reeled off the next three games. Momentum was firmly with the No 7 seed heading into the second set and he produced a break on Alcaraz’s serve in the first game. Alcaraz began to play more conservatively as the set progressed, though, and it paid off as he broke back at 4-4.

Both players battled to a tie-break. At 2-1 down, Alcaraz produced a costly double fault and a clinical Berrettini ensured he paid the price, winning five of the following seven points to take the second set and extend his lead. The third set was tight with the first break points falling the way of Alcaraz in the ninth game.