Berrettini battered as COVID comeback hits the wall

Matteo Berrettini’s comeback from the COVID case which forced him to quit Wimbledon stalled on Tuesday at the Montreal Masters.

Italy’s 2021 All England Club finalist went out in the Canadian first round as he stepped onto harcourt for the summer, losing 6-3, 6-2 to Pablo Carreno Busta in the opening round.

Berrettini’s return had looked promising in late July when he played the Gstaad clay final against Casper Ruud.

But on the cement, he failed to make an impression against Spanish opponent PCB.

The Roman admitted his shock positive virus test at Wimbledon knocked him back for six.

“When they gave me the result I thought it was a joke, because I felt fine,” he said.

“Having to quarantine and isolate alone in a room was a great challenge for me because I set myself the goal of being positive and thinking only about the future, not about what had happened.”

Berrettini lost to PCB in just over an hour and a quarter as he dropped  serve three times. The Italian nearly matched his opponent, 16 winners to 19.

But his unforced error count of 23 far surpassed the seven of the Spaniard.