Jacopo Berrettini, brother of Matteo, had 'best night' of his life at Mexican Open - and then beat Oscar Otte

After the Mexican Open field was significantly weakened by the withdrawals of Carlos Alcaraz, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Cameron Norrie, who would have thought it would be given some added intrigue by the world No. 842? Jacopo Berrettini, the younger brother of world No. 24 Matteo Berrettini, hadn’t ever played an ATP main-draw match before this week.

In four previous ATP Tour qualifying attempts he had failed to win a set. Ad His hopes of making use of the Acapulco qualifying wild card, which his brother seemingly helped secure, looked slim when he lost the first set of his opening match 6-0 to Geoffrey Blancaneaux. ATP AcapulcoAlcaraz pulls out of Acapulco due to hamstring injury, Norrie also withdraws16 HOURS AGO However, he not only found another level to beat third seed Blancaneaux, 0-6 6-4 6-4, but he then toppled fellow Italian Luciano Darderi in straight sets to qualify for the main draw.

“It was probably the best night of my life,” Berrettini, who before this week last played in a Futures tournament – the third tier of men's professional tennis – told the ATP. Berrettini celebrated qualification with his brother and their shared team before turning his attention to his first-ever ATP main draw match against Oscar Otte. With 764 ranking places between the pair, it seemed unlikely that Berrettini would top his achievements in qualifying for the tournament – but he did.

After dropping the first set, Berrettini saved a break point in the first game of the second set and then broke in the next game to move 2-0 ahead. Big-server Otte got back on level terms and took the set to a tie-break, where it was Berrettini who prevailed. Watched on by packed stands, Berrettini levelled the contest at one-set all with a fine