Matteo Berrettini sends Alexander Zverev crashing out of Monte Carlo

Alexander Zverev’s 2025 struggles continue at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, the top seed falling to Matteo Berrettini, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the opening round.

Zverev began the season strong with a run to the Australian Open final, but the world No. 2 has won six matches since finishing runner-up to Jannik Sinner—and just two of his last six matches—crashing out in two hours and 28 minutes on Court Rainier III.

Still No. 2 in the ATP rankings, Zverev actually began the spring with a chance to wrest the No. 1 ranking from Sinner, who is currently serving a three-month ban for an anti-doping rule violation, but the 27-year-old has struggled mightily all spring. He suffered an opening-round upset to Tallon Griekspoor at the BNP Paribas Open and a fourth-round defeat to Arthur Fils at the Miami Open—in both matches, Zverev won the first set.

A two-time major finalist on hard courts (2020 US Open, 2025 Australian Open), Zverev has nonetheless historically played his best tennis on clay, winning a second Internazionali BNL d’Italia title en route to a first final at Roland Garros last spring.

With pressure to defend a substantial portion of his ranking points over the next few months, the German made an impressive start against Berrettini, a former world No. 6. Berrettini arrived in Monte Carlo just shy of his 29th birthday and fresh off a run to the Miami Open quarterfinals, where he narrowly lost to former champion Taylor Fritz. Despite a solid first-round win over Mariano Navone, the Italian appeared overmatched in only his second match of the clay swing, twice losing serve to fall behind by a set.

The Italian soon stabilized his serve and was rewarded with the lone break of the second set, forcing Zverev into a decider.

Zverev and Berrettini traded more holds as the third set got underway, but Berrettini pulled ahead first, claiming a 0-40 lead in the all-important eighth game before converting at 30. Berrettini saved a break point in the following game to consolidate, and was soon standing at the baseline with a chance to serve for the match.

A dramatic conclusion played out from there as Zverev nabbed his first break since the opening set, evening the contest at five games apiece. Berrettini regained the lead by winning the best rally of the match, finally hitting through Zverev's defenses with a thunderous forehand winner.

Berrettini made a better start of his second opportunity to serve for the match, landing a backhand slice right on the baseline, and earned his first match point as Zverev erred long off the forehand side. A final miss from the top seed put Berrettini over the finish line and into the third round, sealing the win in just under two and a half hours.

Standing between Berrettini and a second straight Masters 1000 quarterfinal will be the winner of the second round clash between No. 13 seed Lorenzo Musetti and Jiri Lehecka.