Matteo Berrettini got off to a winning start at the Queen’s Club as he defeated home hope Dan Evans 6-3 6-3 in an hour and 36 minutes in what was a rematch of last year’s quarter-final. Berrettini is the defending champion at Queen’s and will be hoping to defend his 500 ranking points from winning the title last year after blasting the ATP for removing the points on offer at Wimbledon, meaning his ranking will take a blow as last year’s runner-up with 1,200 points being removed from his tally next month.
Berrettini and Evans were facing off for the second time, a year after their first meeting in the quarter-finals of the cinch Championships, where the Italian won 7-6(5) 6-3. Both are fresh off of title wins on the grass, with the second seed lifting the Stuttgart trophy in his first tournament in three months last week while the Brit won the Nottingham Challenger.
Evans went into the tough first-round clash hoping it was a “match of small margins” and got his wish in the first seven games of the match, before the defending champion earned himself two break points and took the second to serve for the opener at 5-3. The world No 31 fought back to set up two of his own break points but Berrettini saved both to close out a 6-3 set in 36 minutes.
He carried his momentum into the second set, breaking the Evans serve once again and holding on to make it five successive games won. He was able to save a break point to hold into his lead for 3-1 but was dragged into a lengthy game while leading 4-3, saving three break points to put himself within a game of the match.
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