RIO DE JANEIRO — Top-seeded Matteo Berrettini of Italy beat Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 on Friday to advance to the quarterfinals of the rain-plagued Rio Open clay-court tournament.
The match that was initially scheduled for Thursday evening, but ended only minutes before Saturday began in Rio de Janeiro.
“I had two match points in the second set, but Thiago was strong,” the sixth-ranked Berrettini said, remembering of a moment of the match that took place seven hours before he could play the last points. “Here I am near midnight, playing. You have to be strong mentally.”
Berrettini’s adversary will be Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Argenina’s Federico Delbonis 6-4, 7-6 (1) after several interruptions due to rain.
Rain forced organizers to postpone all quarterfinal clashes for Saturday. Besides the Berrettini-Alcaraz clash, Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman will face Spain’s Pablo Andujar, Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic will play Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo, and Italy’s Fabio Fognini will take on Argentina’s Federico Coria.