Daniil Medvedev destroyed his racket in an extraordinary on-court meltdown during an astonishing 6-0 6-0 defeat to Matteo Berrettini at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Medvedev, the world No 10, failed to win a single game in his first match of the clay-court season as former Wimbledon runner-up Berrettini progressed to the third round.
After losing the first set 6-0, Medvedev exploded as he lost his serve for the fourth consecutive time to immediately go down 2-0 in the second.
Medvedev began by throwing his racket into the back fence, before slamming his racket into the clay four times – to increasingly loud cheers from the crowd.
The Russian then tossed the mangled racket frame, which was almost snapped in half by Medvedev’s outburst, into the bin. Berrettini then won a further four games in a row to seal victory in under 50 minutes, and hand Medvedev the heaviest defeat of his career.
It’s fair to say clay is not Medvedev’s favourite surface – he has twice lost in the first round of the French Open out of his last four appearances in Paris – but the former No 1 had enjoyed a resurgence this season and reached last month’s Indian Wells final as well as winning hard-court titles in Brisbane and Dubai.
The stats of the 6-0 6-0 defeat were unsurprisingly damning for Medvedev. He made 27 unforced errors to just three winners, won just nine of his 33 service points, and won only 17 of the 67 points across the match. He did, though, have two break points against Berrettini’s serve in the opening game of the match.
Berrettini, meanwhile, has reached the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters without dropping a single game, having advanced from his first-round match when the veteran Roberto Bautista Agut retired while trailing 4-0 on Tuesday.
The Italian, who received a wildcard to play Monte Carlo amid what has been another injury disrupted season, appeared stunned by the manner of the victory. “I think it was definitely one of the best performance of my life,” he said.
”I think I missed three shots in the whole match and it’s not easy, especially with a tricky player like Daniel. I think the game plan was perfect and my weapons were working pretty well.
“I raced a little bit in the first game, facing two break points. After that, I felt I was playing better than him. I wouldn’t expect to win on and on like that. It doesn’t happen that often. One break, two breaks, it’s not enough sometimes, so I kept pushing.”
