Berrettini Smashes Racket, Nakashima Advances in Shanghai

Brandon Nakashima beat Matteo Berrettini 7-6, 7-5 in the second round of the Shanghai Masters 1000. At 5-5 in the second set, Berrettini lost his serve with a double fault on break point and smashed his racket. Nakashima served it out in the next game.

In the first-set tie-break, with the American leading 5-4, Berrettini lost two straight points on his own serve, the first on a forehand error. Nakashima, the No. 16 seed, never lost serve. In the fifth game of the first set he saved three consecutive break points from 0-40. Berrettini finished with 12 aces, and both players won 75% of their service points.

In the first round, Berrettini came back to beat Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-4. He had beaten Nakashima in four sets in the first round of the 2022 Australian Open. Flavio Cobolli also went out of Shanghai in the same round, beaten by Adrian Mannarino.