Berrettini beats Murray to win Stuttgart Open in return to ATP Tour play
Italian missed entire clay-court season following hand injury three months ago
Matteo Berrettini showed signs of recapturing the form which took him to the Wimbledon final last year as he beat Andy Murray 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 to win the Stuttgart Open on Sunday in his first tournament for three months.
The Italian hadn't played since Indian Wells in March because of a hand injury which forced him to miss the entire clay-court swing and, in Murray, faced an opponent whose own injury issues hampered him in the deciding set.
“It was the last thing that I imagined when I came here,” Berrettini said of winning the title on his return to the tour.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray collided with one of the players' seats at courtside in the first point of the decider and called for the physio soon after for treatment on his left leg and hip.
He took another timeout when he appeared to indicate a problem with his abdominal muscles at 4-2 down.
“This is not the way that we wanted to finish the match,” Berrettini said, and he praised Murray's history of bouncing back from injuries. “He showed us so many times how to come back.”
Berrettini moves to 6-3 in career finals with his second career Stuttgart title, while Murray is 46-24 in his 70th career final as he chased a first title since 2019.
It was the first time Murray played a singles final on grass since winning Wimbledon in 2016.
Tournament organizers said Sunday that an investigation had begun after Nick Kyrgios said he faced racist abuse from the crowd in his semifinal loss to Murray the day before.
“No discriminating actions by the spectators are accepted,” organizers said in emailed comments. “We have expressed our regret towards Nick Kyrgios and his team and assured that any kind of discrimination is unacceptable. The incident is currently under investigation.”
Kyrgios was given a game penalty Saturday when he appeared to confront someone in the crowd during the match.
“One thing I won't ever tolerate is spectators heckling and blasting abuse to athletes. It's been happening personally to me for a while, from racist comments to complete disrespect,” the Australian wrote on Instagram on Saturday.
DUTCH WILD CARD UPSETS MEDVEDEV
Dutch wild card Tim van Rijthoven capped a dream run at the Libema Open by beating top seed Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-1 in the final in 's-hertogenbosch on Sunday.
Van Rijthoven, ranked 205th in the world, had never won a maindraw match at an ATP Tour event until this week and he knocked out third seed Taylor Fritz and second seed Felix Auger Aliassime before victory over Medvedev in 65 minutes secured his maiden title.
The 25-year-old Van Rijthoven broke Medvedev four times and when the Russian's return on championship point hit the net, he sank to the grass turf as the home crowd cheered their first Dutch champion on home soil in 19 years.
“Congrats Tim, amazing week. First time in an ATP tournament (final) and straightaway you destroy the number two in the world in straight sets,” Medvedev said after collecting the runners-up trophy.
“I don't know how it feels, so it must be a good feeling!”
Medvedev, the U.S. Open champion, will become the world No. 1 on Monday.
In the women's draw, Ekaterina Alexandrova won her second career title on Sunday, upsetting top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 7-5, 6-0.
The seventh-seeded Russian converted five of her eight break point chances while saving four of five break points against her in the one hour, 18-minute match.
Sabalenka and Alexandrova had split four previous meetings. The win brought Alexandrova her first title on grass courts. Her only other career title came in 2020 in Shenzhen, where she defeated Elena Rybakina.
In April, Sabalenka also lost in the finals in Stuttgart, falling to World No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
HADDAD MAIA, EVANS TAKE NOTTINGHAM TITLES
At the Rothesay Open in Nottingham, England, No. 7 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil defeated sixth-seeded Alison Riske to win her maiden WTA Tour title.
Haddad Maia needed two hours, 21 minutes to claim a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory in her first appearance in a singles final since Seoul in 2017.
Despite five service aces from Riske and six double faults of her own, Haddad Maia kept Riske on the run, forcing her to fend off break point after break point — 16 in all — as Haddad Maia converted three of them.
Statistically, the match was a near dead heat, with each player winning 13 of 26 games. Haddad Maia's win came down to the difference of less than a handful of points as she won 92 of 180 in the match, compared to 88 for Riske.
In the men's event, top-seeded Dan Evans of Britain beat third-seeded Jordan Thompson 6-4, 6-4 in the final to win the title for the second time, after his victory here in 2019.