Matteo Berrettini outlasted Patrick Kypson in almost three hours at the Sardegna Open in Cagliari, saving two match points to stay alive and keep his place inside the ATP top 100. The Italian won a bruising deciding tie-break on the second match point he faced and moved into the round of 16.
Berrettini had taken control early, breaking in the fifth game of the first set and closing it 6-4. Kypson answered in the second, with Berrettini leading 6-5 before the American broke back and edged the tie-break 7-5. The third set followed the same edge-of-the-seat pattern. Berrettini dropped serve in the opening game, recovered by breaking back at 4-4, and then held his nerve in the decisive tie-break.
The result mattered as much for the ranking table as for the draw. Before play, Berrettini was at risk of slipping out of the ATP top 100, and the win protected that position for now. He now faces top-seeded Mariano Navone in the round of 16 at the Challenger 175 event, where the pressure does not ease much for an Italian player trying to rebuild momentum on clay. The Sardegna Open has also kept other Italians in view, with Stefano Travaglia losing in the third set to Dutchman Jesper De Jong and the all-Italian meeting between Lorenzo Sonego and Mattia Bellucci set for tomorrow.
Berrettini’s survival fits the mood of a tournament that has already turned into a test of nerve for the home players. The draw is still deep enough to demand more, and the next step is steep: Navone is the top seed, and Berrettini will need another long, composed performance to keep moving through Cagliari.
For now, though, the day belonged to the player who refused to go away when the match and his ranking both seemed to be slipping from his grasp.