Alexei Popyrin Beats Berrettini 6-2, 6-3 for First Masters 1000 Win
alexei popyrin beat Matteo Berrettini 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday at the Italian Open, and the win gave him his first Masters 1000 victory of 2026. He returned from a two-week break and handled Berrettini on the former Wimbledon finalist's home court at Campo Centrale.
Popyrin on Campo Centrale
Popyrin said the performance reflected how much he needed the reset after a rough stretch. “Considering the year I’ve had, and everything that’s been going on this year with me off the court, it was a pretty good performance,” he said after the match.
He added that Berrettini made the setting harder. “Matteo is an unbelievable player, and it’s never easy to play in front of a home crowd like that, so considering the circumstances, it was a very good performance for myself, really solid from my side.”
Two weeks off after Madrid
The break came after Popyrin lost in the first round of the Madrid Masters to US qualifier Martin Damm, his third straight loss. He said he skipped the following week and stepped away for a couple of weeks after that defeat.
That stretch had already been shaped by calf and glute issues in 2026, along with the mental burn-out he said had been building. He also said he had fallen to his lowest ranking in 20 months and had only five wins in a troubled 2026.
“When you go through these kind of dips I’ve been through for the last couple of months, you tend to overthink things on the court, and it just all becomes a big jumble,” he said. “So I felt I just had to just reset myself, try and get back to playing a little bit free and it worked pretty well today.”
Three match points on serve
The result looked cleaner than the pressure behind it. Popyrin said Berrettini saved three match points on his serve, and that he was 5-3 up and 40-love up before the game drifted back to deuce.
He said he had been worried that earlier in the year he might have folded there. “Being 5-3 up and 40-love up and getting back to deuce on those match points, in previous months, I probably would have folded there and lost the game and made it a really tough battle, so I was happy I got through.”
That was the difference on a day when he needed control more than style. He said the crowd added pressure, and he was pleased with how he handled it while closing out a straight-sets win that ended a difficult run and put him back on the board at Masters 1000 level.
