New York (AFP) – After his historic victory against Novak Djokovic, the Argentine Mariano Navone extended a dream US Open on Wednesday by eliminating a former Wimbledon finalist, the Italian Matteo Berrettini.

First modification: 09/03/2026 - 01:11Last modification: 09/03/2026 - 06:25

Navone will play for the first time in the third round of the New York Grand Slam against another Argentine, Tomás Etcheverry, who also advanced this Wednesday.

Number 49 in the ATP, Navone beat Berrettini (43rd) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and 7-6 (7/4) in the second of his bombs in the last Grand Slam of the year.

The first was on Sunday's opening day when he became the first player to eliminate Djokovic in a US Open debut.

"I didn't see myself in the third round. When it's Djokovic's turn, the best player in history, it was normal not to be there, but it was fun to defy logic," he recalled with a smile.

"After beating Djokovic on the Arthur Ashe (court), the impact it had, we had to go down and it's difficult," he acknowledged. "It wasn't so easy to come back and have everything turn out perfect. I started off very nervous but I got into it little by little, and Matteo is a great player."

The brave Argentine tennis player resisted the huge serve of Berrettini, who added 15 aces, and made the transalpine giant run until he made 77 unforced errors.

The duel lasted for three hours and 29 minutes of play, in which each player received the enthusiastic support of a large number of compatriots.

To ambush Berrettini, Navone applied the recipe from his August victory at the Montreal Masters 1000.

The physique of the Wimbledon runner-up in 2021 and US Open semifinalist in 2019 did not resist Navone's push and threw in the towel in the fourth set tiebreak, in which the Argentine took a 6-1 lead.

Navone will now star in a completely Argentine third round match against Etcheverry.

"It's going to be a nice and different game, because we know each other a lot," Navone predicted. "But it's good that yes or yes there will be an Argentine in the second week."

Etcheverry, number 32 in the ATP, beat Jacob Fearnley (101st) 6-3, 6-3, 3-6 and 6-3 without being disturbed by a two-hour interruption due to rain.

It is the sixth time that the player from La Plata will play in a Grand Slam third round, the last of them at the Australian Open earlier this year.

In New York he fell in that phase in 2024 while his ceiling for a Grand Slam is the quarterfinals he reached at Roland Garros in 2023.

© 2026 AFP

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