Berrettini Out In The First Round: Popyrin Wins In Two Sets At The Foro Italico

Matteo Berrettini was eliminated in the first round of the 2026 Italian Open, defeated by Alexei Popyrin 2-6, 3-6 on the Centrale of the Foro Italico.

The Italian never really got into the match. The first set slipped away in just over half an hour, with two breaks conceded in the sixth and eighth games. In the second, Berrettini tried to keep up with the Australian's pace from the baseline, but never found an answer to his opponent's serve.

The match flared up at the start of the second set, when Berrettini's protest over a piece of rubber that had come loose from Popyrin's racquet escalated into a lengthy argument with the chair umpire, who refused to have the point replayed. The Centrale crowd booed for a long time, but the match carried on.

It was the first meeting between the two on clay: in the four previous matches on other surfaces, the head-to-head was 3-1 in Berrettini's favor, and now becomes 3-2. For the Roman, who entered the main draw without needing a wild card thanks to a series of withdrawals, it's another early exit at a Masters 1000, after his first-round loss in Madrid to Prizmic. His preparation had also included a quarterfinal run at the Cagliari Challenger, but in Rome the step up in level was clearly felt.