Matteo Berrettini does not waste the great opportunity to return to the semi-final at Queen’s. Against the American Tommy Paul, one who has played just 15 matches on the grass in his career, experience and a greater predisposition to the surface were enough to close the match (6-4, 6-2) in just 1 hour and 13 ‘. A quick match was needed for the Roman, ideal for recovering his energy after the hard challenge (almost 3 hours) with Kudla. Also because on Saturday he will find another opponent ready to battle him, the Dutch Botic van de Zandschulp, n. 29 of the world, which already made him suffer at Wimbledon last year, despite losing 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
Slow start, then absolute domination
Berrettini, evidently still tried by the fatigue of 24 hours before, struggled to get started properly. Not incisive in the first serving and not very responsive to the response he slipped under 1-4. At this point, however, Paul came to his rescue who with a couple of double faults and a few too many mistakes allowed him to get back into the game. Berrettini broke up, found his first serve and, with a streak of 5 games in a row, overturned the score (6-4). Paul at this point disunited. He began to collect forehand errors in series and already in the third game he conceded the break to 0. At 2-1 the Roman sat down for a moment, he was forced to face the ball of the counter-break but Paul pardoned him by putting out another forehand. At this point, Berrettini shook off his last fears and took the lead to close 6-2 at the first match point with an ace.
Berrettini in the semifinal at Queen’s: Paul beaten 6-4, 6-2
by Jacopo Manfredi
Berrettini: “Wimbledon? I dream of being able to do better than last year …”
“I’m really happy, because I started the match badly, but I knew I was able to recover the break,” Berrettini said at the end. “It wasn’t easy to play because it was windy,” he pointed out. “I gritted my teeth then fortunately as the minutes went by I saw that my tennis gradually found the right size”. For the Roman this is the 7th victory in a row after 84 days of injury. “If I am already in good shape it is thanks to my staff”, he kept saying. “He helped me a lot in difficult moments, I worked hard. I really wanted to go back to Queen’s to defend the title I won last year. Now I don’t think about Wimbledon, he will have a week off to recover his energy, rearrange his ideas and try to do as last year … or maybe something more “, he let slip in closing.