×

Berrettini retires to send Arnaldi into semis

Hip injury stops former top 10 star in second set with Arnaldi ahead 7-5, 5-2

Matteo Berrettini and Matteo Arnaldi, Roland-Garros 2026, quarterfinal
©Jean-Baptiste Autissier / FFT
 - Victoria Chiesa

Over the first week-plus of play in Paris, Matteo Berrettini made no secret of how much he was revelling in his return to Roland-Garros.

After missing the last four editions of the tournament due to a myriad of injuries that have changed the course of his career since he reached the 2021 Wimbledon final, at last he seemed fit and healthy.

That's what made the premature ending to his quarterfinal match with countryman Matteo Arnaldi at Roland-Garros on Wednesday all the more unfortunate. 

Trailing Arnaldi 7-5, 5-2, the former top 10 star was forced to retire with a hip injury, an outcome that made the 104th-ranked Arnaldi just the second man to win a Roland-Garros quarterfinal by retirement in the Open era. 

Things started to go sideways for Berrettini shortly after he lost a gruelling first set that lasted more than an hour.

He started the better of the two Italians, breaking serve twice in the first three games, and led 3-0 at the first change of ends. But Arnaldi, who had already logged the most hours on court en route to a major quarterfinal since 1991, got going after that, and won seven of the next nine games to steal the opening set.

A nine-deuce eighth game was a highlight, as Berrettini saved five break points to hold, but he could not repeat the feat in the set's final game.

Berrettini later left the court for a medical timeout down 2-1 in the second set, but a love hold seemed to steady him briefly.

Though he bravely battled on for three more games, the former world No.6 had nothing left to give, and reluctantly pulled the plug after exactly two hours on court.

Arnaldi is also the lowest-ranked man to reach the semifinals or better in Paris since Belgian Filip Dewulf got to the final four in 1997 ranked No.122, and just the third man outside the top 100 to do so since 1990. 

He plays another Italian on Friday, Flavio Cobolli, who earlier beat Canada’s No.4 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.

More to come...