A battle of styles is brewing in the Round of 16 at the Grand Prix Hassan II. Unseeded Matteo Berrettini will take on the clay-court specialist Jaume Munar on Wednesday, April 3rd. Both will be eager to prove a point – Berrettini looking to reignite his career and Munar aiming to show his dominance on his preferred surface. 

Berrettini, currently ranked 135th, arrives in Marrakech seeking a return to form. Once a Top 10 contender, injuries and a slight dip in form have seen him slip down the rankings. Ranked 73rd, Munar a familiar face on the clay-court circuit, known for his tireless retrieving abilities and strategic baseline play.

Matteo Berrettini vs Jaume Munar: Preview

Berrettini was supposed to begin the year in the Australian Open against Stefanos Tsitsipas but withdrew. He played his first match of 2024 in Challenger in Phoenix, Arizona, where he managed to show a glimpse of his old form. The former number 6 then reached the final after three back-to-back three-set triumphs and a straight-set semifinal, only to lose to Nuno Borges in the final.

He entered the Miami Open but lost to Andy Murray in the first round 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Berrettini then prepared for the Grand Prix Hassan II and showed a dominant performance over Alexander Shevchenko as he eliminated the 23-year-old 6-2, 6-1.

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On the other hand, Munar began the year unable to qualify for the Hong Kong Open or the ASB Classics and then managed to achieve his second victory in the main draw of the Australian Open against Shevchenko, to be ousted in the second round. Open Sud De would see him eliminated in the first round, with a run to the quarterfinal in the Cordoba Open.

He failed to qualify for the Argentina Open, following it up with a second-round and quarterfinal elimination in the Rio Open and the Chile Open, respectively. The Sunshine Doubles would see him eliminated in the first round, but he finally caught a break in the Grand Prix. He beat Luca Van Assche in three sets and has set up a bout with the Italian heartthrob.

Berrettini vs Munar: Head-to-Head

Currently the two athletes are tied 0-0. Berrettini and Munar have never met in any ITF, ATP Tour or Challenger-level tournaments. The two players will be a part of a first-ever, and the crowd will be all for it. In the past few months, both players have had a similar 2024 so far. Therefore, their clash is bound to show new strategies which will aid them in overcoming the other and going ahead in the Grand Prix.

Prediction: Munar to be the triumphant player

Berrettini has a 2-1 record on clay in the last 12 months. Over the last year, he has won 88.5% of his clay-court serve games and 25.9% of his return matches. Munar, on the other hand, has a 15-12 record in 13 clay tournaments during the last 12 months. The Spaniard has a 68.3% winning percentage in serve games on clay surfaces and a 33.4% winning percentage in return games.

Clay seems to favor Munar’s return game. While Munar sits comfortably at 105th in the rankings for break point conversion on clay (42.5%, 90 out of 212), Berrettini’s success rate on the surface falls short at a lowly 25.0% (6 out of 24).

However, these statistics show the performance on the surface, which has not been played on for more than half a year. Holistically speaking, in his last ten tournaments, Berrettini has won 17.7% of his return games and 86.1% of his service games. Whereas Munar has won 75.3% of his service games in the last ten tournaments and 30.7% of his return games. 

While the difference in their service games is not vast, Munar is performing almost twice as well in return games. If he wants to win the bout, he will have to employ his best returns and send the Italian player packing.

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