“Berrettini dominates with a double 6-0 and makes history in the Masters 1000.”

Matteo Berrettini is making history in world tennis with an absolutely overwhelming performance at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The Italian not only advanced to the round of 16 of the prestigious tournament without dropping a single game, but also delivered a “double bagel” – a score of 6-0, 6-0 against none other than former world number one Daniil Medvedev! A brutal outcome that makes it clear: Berrettini is here to dominate the clay season.

In his opening match, Berrettini benefited from the early retirement of Roberto Bautista Agut, who left the match after just 23 minutes due to a neck injury. But it was in the second round that the real storm erupted. The 29-year-old Italian crushed Medvedev, who entered the court clearly out of shape and struggling with a negative cycle. This categorical victory foreshadows an explosive season for Berrettini, who is now preparing to face Joao Fonseca in the quarter-finals in the Principality of Monaco.

This result is not only a personal achievement for Berrettini, but also a rare and shocking event in the Masters 1000. This is the 14th match in the history of this category that ends with a double 6-0, a feat that few can achieve. Remembering the most notable moments: Ivan Lendl opened this statistic in 1994 in Canada, defeating Wally Masur without dropping a game. Three years later, Alex Corretja delivered the same “treatment” to Nuno Marques, exactly in Monaco, a venue that today witnesses one of these feats once again.

Other legendary names also join this exclusive list, with Jan-Michael Gambill and Lleyton Hewitt repeating this humiliating result against Jocelyn Robichaud and Robby Ginepri, respectively. In 2005, Nicolas Kiefer and Guillermo Canas delivered double “bagels” at Indian Wells and Rome, while Carlos Berlocq had a curious episode at the 2006 Miami Open, where he delivered the same result to Donald Young, but then suffered a heavy defeat against James Blake.

Nikolay Davydenko, Jarkko Nieminen, and David Goffin also feature in this gallery of devastating victories, with Goffin repeating the feat in Monaco against Tomas Berdych after a nine-year hiatus since Nieminen. Recently, the Italian dominance in the Principality has been remarkable: Lorenzo Musetti, another Italian prodigy, had already delivered a double bagel to Luca Nardi, and now Berrettini repeats the feat against Medvedev. In between, Alex de Minaur also left Grigor Dimitrov without a game in another display of power on the Monegasque clay.

This is a historic moment for tennis, as it is only the second time a Top 10 player in the world ranking has faced this devastating result in a Masters 1000 event. With this crushing victory, Berrettini confirms that he is more than ready to wreak havoc on the main stages of international tennis. The upcoming battle against Joao Fonseca will be a crucial test for the Italian, who promises to continue his unstoppable march towards the title.

Stay tuned, as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters is witnessing the rise of a new era dominated by Matteo Berrettini – and this is a story that no tennis fan will want to miss!

This article first appeared on Apito Final.