Sttutgart: World number 10 Matteo Berrettini made his return to the court with a 6-2 4-6 6-3 victory over Radu Albot in Stuttgart yesterday, nearly three months after suffering a hand injury.
The Italian, who won the ATP 250 grasscourt event in 2019, underwent surgery in March and skipped the French Open as well as Masters 1000 events in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome.
The 26-year-old was dominant on his first serve and also fired down 21 aces against qualifier Albot to reach the quarter-finals.
Berrettini is the second seed behind world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas in Stuttgart, which opens the grasscourt swing ahead of Wimbledon.
Meanwhile Britain’s number one ranked doubles player Tara Moore has been provisionally suspended due to the presence of a prohibited substance in her sample, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said yesterday.
Moore, ranked 83rd in the world, provided her sample while competing in a WTA 250 event in Bogota, Colombia – where she lost in the final – and the AITA said her ‘A’ sample contained her provisional suspension, backdated from May 27, will make her ineligible to compete in or even attend sanctioned events.
“I have never knowingly taken a banned substance in my career. I am investigating how the positive result could have occurred and look forward to proving that I am a clean athlete,” Moore wrote on Twitter.  
“I am deeply saddened by the provisional suspension and hope to be back on the court as soon as possible.”