Daniil Medvedev has endured an eventful day at the Monte Carlo Masters, smashing several racquets before suffering the first 6-0, 6-0 trouncing of his distinguished career.<\/p>\n
The volatile Russian smashed his racquet six times after going 2-0 down in the second set en route to his unprecedented 49-minute capitulation to Matteo Berrettini on Wednesday, local time.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old hurled his racquet into the clay time and again after picking it up, and chucked it to the back of the court, cheered on by spectators, before finally smashing it to smithereens with one last mighty crack against the ground and then placing it calmly in a bin.<\/p>\n
Medvedev, who had been in fine form on the US hard-court swing, finished his nightmarish afternoon with 28 unforced errors and five double faults to suffer his first “double-bagel” defeat in 626 career matches.<\/p>\n
It was only the fifth time that a top-10 player had lost 6-0, 6-0 since the ATP rankings began in 1973 \u2014 and the first time in a decade.<\/p>\n
But for wildcard Berrettini there was nothing but delight, following an injury-plagued period for the former Wimbledon finalist.<\/p>\n
He described the win as “one of the best performances” of his life.<\/p>\n
It was the stand-out result of another eventful day in which fourth seed Lorenzo Musetti’s shock 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 defeat to local Monegasque hero Valentin Vacherot spelt promising news for Australia’s familiar lone survivor Alex de Minaur.<\/p>\n
Fifth-seed de Minaur had been lined up as a potential quarterfinal opponent for Musetti in what had promised to be a re-run of their semifinal last year, which the Italian won.<\/p>\n