Generational duel in New York

We like to report on German-speaking athletes in our tennis tips. Unfortunately, all the men from our home region were eliminated early in the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. But that doesn’t mean that there won’t still be very interesting pairings at the US Open 2022. Among others, Scotland’s Andy Murray and Italy’s Matteo Berrettini will face each other in the third round.

It is a duel of two tennis generations. Andy Murray, winner of the US Open in 2012, belongs to the old guard of great tennis players. Currently, the 35-year-old is still too good to end his career, at least there are no official announcements yet. This year he wants to do it again in New York.

He is still waiting for his big triumph. Maybe the knot will burst now in Flushing Meadows. We think that in the duel between old champion Andy Murray and Matteo Berrettini, the forecast should go in the direction of an Italian victory.

After all, the Italian has reached at least the quarter-finals in the last four Grand Slam tournaments in which he has competed. He will have set himself no less of a goal in New York. It is possible, however, that things will not go completely smoothly on Friday. In any case, we think it is conceivable to place a bet on more than 3.5 sets between Andy Murray and Matteo Berrettini.

Andy Murray – Statistics & current form

Current world ranking: 51
Seeded List Position: Unseeded

One thing you definitely have to hand to Andy Murray. The Scot is a fighter of the highest order. That’s how he scored his big triumphs at Wimbledon at the London and Rio Olympics and also at the US Open. Even a persistent hip injury, which actually forced him to end his career, has not stopped the 35-year-old.

A chance to reach the last 16 again in five years

So the Brit continues to tour the ATP Tour for the love of the game, and you can’t count him as old school just yet. In fact, however, he no longer appears capable of delivering the really big results. Before the US Open, the Scot won only one of five matches. A successful preparation looks different. For us, it sounds more like you can leave the odds on a win for the old master out of it between Andy Murray and Matteo Berrettini.

The draw has been kind to Andy Murray so far. In the first round, he faced the Argentine clay court specialist Francisco Cerundolo, whom he defeated easily in three sets. Then his opponent was Emilio Nava from the USA, who still has his career ahead of him and won at least the first set with great energy.

But at the beginning of the second set, Andy Murray was the absolute master in the house and finished off the local hero with 5:7, 6:3, 6:1 and 6:0. The Briton is now in the third round, but he has not made it past that stage in a Grand Slam tournament since the 2017 French Open. The 2012 champion is also tipped to be out of the US Open on Friday.

Matteo Berrettini – Statistics & current form

Current world ranking: 14
Position in the seedings: 13

Somehow you could get the feeling that the Grand Slam tournaments were cursed for Matteo Berrettini this year. After all, at the beginning of the year he was still in the semi-finals at the Australian Open. On the other hand, he had to miss the French Open due to injury and after triumphing on grass at London’s Queens Club before that, he also had to miss Wimbledon because of a positive infection test.

Weak preparation – good tournament start

The Italian will now be all the more fired up to go far at Flushing Meadows. However, the preparation was not a great encouragement, because in Montreal as well as in Cincinnati the 26-year-old was eliminated directly after losing his opening match. Nevertheless, the Italian can rely on his strengths and is therefore very highly rated at the US Open.

In the first round, he had to face the Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry. Basically, it was the perfect start to a Grand Slam tournament. In the end, the Italian won 6:2, 6:3 and 6:3 without too much resistance. To gain self-confidence after the weak preparation, the start could not have gone better for Matteo Berrettini.

In the second round, however, the Italian had to struggle for a long time with lucky loser Hugo Grenier from France. But after almost three and a half hours, the Italian converted the match point to win 2:6, 6:1, 7:6 and 7:6. This duel alone suggests that one can make a prediction of more than 3.5 sets between Andy Murray and Matteo Berrettini.

Andy Murray – Matteo Berrettini Direct comparison / H2H record

To date, Andy Murray and Matteo Berrettini have crossed paths a total of three times. In the direct comparison, the Italian is ahead with 2:1 victories. The first meeting took place in October 2019, when the Scot won 7-6 and 7-6 after two tight sets in the last 16 in Beijing. The Italian then took revenge twice on grass.

In 2021, Matteo Berrettini won in the quarter-finals of the Queens Club with a smooth 6:3 and 6:3. The last duel between the two opponents was not even three months ago. They met on the lawn of Stuttgart in June in the final. It was a well-balanced match in which small things decided it in the end. With a 6:4, 5:7 and 6:3 the Italian secured the title.

Andy Murray – Matteo Berrettini Tip

Andy Murray is still capable of delivering great matches. But whether he can once again get everything out of his battered body over four or five sets will perhaps already be shown on Friday, because in general one can assume a relatively close duel between the Scot and his Italian opponent.

At least that was the case in the last two encounters, both of which went to Matteo Berrettini. We don’t expect the world number 14 to win easily against the former US Open champion.

But maybe the Scot will manage to rise above himself once again and reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam tournament after more than five years. This scenario cannot be ruled out completely. That’s why we are holding back on betting on the winner and playing the odds on more than 3.5 sets between Andy Murray and Matteo Berrettini.