Berrettini Steps Up Nitto ATP Finals Bid, Reaches St. Petersburg QFs

Matteo Berrettini stepped up his quest for a place at the Nitto ATP Finals on Thursday by reaching the St. Petersburg Open quarter-finals. The Italian swept past Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain 6-1, 6-2 in 56 minutes to rise one spot to eighth position — past Japan’s Kei Nishikori — in the 2019 ATP Race To London for a place at the 10-17 November event in London.

Buoyed with confidence after a run to the US Open semi-finals, Berrettini lost only six of his service points and broke Carballes Baena’s serve four times for his 35th match win of the season. The 23-year-old, who will now play Belarusian qualifier Egor Gerasimov in St. Petersburg, has won two ATP Tour titles this year at the Hungarian Open in Budapest (d. Krajinovic) and the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart (d. Auger-Aliassime).

Elsewhere, fourth-seeded Croatian Borna Coric was leading 6-7(5), 7-5, 3-0 when Marton Fucsovics of Hungary retired due to a left leg injury after two hours and 19 minutes of play. Coric will next play eighth-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud, who booked his place in the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Salvatore Caruso of Italy in 74 minutes.