Rome Masters: Matteo Berrettini vs Federico Coria preview, head-to-head & prediction | Italian Open 2020

Match details

Fixture: Matteo Berrettini vs Federico Coria

Date: 16 September 2020

Tournament: Italian Open 2020

Round: Second round (Round of 32)

Venue: Rome, Italy

Category: ATP Masters 1000

Surface: Red clay

Prize money: €3,465,045

Match timing: 11 am CEST, 2.30 pm IST

Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel / ESPN | India - Sony Six

Matteo Berrettini vs Federico Coria preview

Federico Coria at the Rio Open 2020

Home favorite Matteo Berrettini kicks off his 2020 claycourt campaign with a second round encounter against Federico Coria at the Rome Masters on Wednesday.

After breaking through on the ATP tour last year, the fourth-seeded Berrettini will look to do much better than he has done so far in 2020.

Before the lockdown the Italian played just one tournament, the Australian Open, where he lost in the second round against Tennys Sandgren. And Berrettini has failed to show much progress since the restart; he suffered a second-round loss to Reilly Opelka at the Cincinnati Masters and a fourth-round loss to Andrey Rublev at the US Open.

Berrettini's opponent in the second round, Argentina's Federicio Coria, is in his 11th season on tour. The World No. 107 has not had the best of results in 2020 either, but he did reach the quarterfinals in Rio.

More importantly, Coria comes into the Rome second round on the back of impressive qualification matches and a dominant 6-1 7-6 win against Jan Lennard Struff in the first round.

Matteo Berrettini vs Federico Coria head-to-head

The second round match in Rome is the first ever between Matteo Berrettini and Federico Coria on the ATP tour, so the head-to-head stands at 0-0 between the pair.

Berrettini, did, however get the better of Coria with ease when they met at a Challenger level event in San Benedetto, Italy. The World No. 8 prevailed 6-2 6-4 in that match.

Matteo Berrettini vs Federico Coria preview

Matteo Berrettini at the International BNL d'Italia 2019

Given their respective rankings and previous history on tour, it is hard to envisage anything but a Matteo Berrettini win on Wednesday.

The Italian's immaculate serve was on display at the US Open, as he didn't concede a single break in the first three rounds. Moreover, his whip-like forehand amassed over 50 winners in the four rounds that he played.

Although his aggressive playing style is better suited to quick surfaces, Berrettini has also proven his abilities on clay; he won the title in Budapest and made the final in Munich last year.

Coria has not found much of a high level since his suspension in 2018 on fixing charges, and he will likely struggle to get anything out of this encounter. If he is to cause an upset, Coria must serve out of his skin and look to out-hit the Italian from the baseline - which is far easier said than done.

Prediction: Matteo Berrettini to win in straight sets.