PARIS (Reuters) – German qualifier Daniel Altmaier, ranked 186th in the world, bundled out Italian seventh seed Matteo Berrettini from the French Open with a comprehensive 6-2 7-6(5) 6-4 victory on Saturday.
Making his debut at this year’s claycourt Grand Slam at Roland Garros, the 22-year-old broke the off-colour Italian’s serve four times to win their first career meeting in two hours and 15 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Altmaier hit 23 winners, many of them from his sizzling one-handed backhand, while Berrettini’s powerful game lacked control as he dished up 42 unforced errors, the last of them on match point.
In the fourth round Altmaier will meet the winner of the Spanish battle between 10th seed Roberto Bautista Agut and U.S. Open semi-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta, seeded 17th.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Christian Radnedge)
