DJOKOVIC CLOSING IN ON HISTORY AT WIMBLEDON
LONDON — Matteo Berrettini served up a Sunday sporting double for Italy by reaching the Wimbledon final after overpowering Hubert Hurkacz in four sets.
The 25-year-old seventh seed from Rome became the first Italian man to reach the final after a 6-3, 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 victory on Saturday.
The main course may be England’s date with Italy in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday evening, but
Berrettini will provide a tasty antipasti when he walks out on Centre Court in the afternoon.
In the final, Berrettini will meet world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, a 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 7-5 winner Friday against 10th-seeded Denis Shapovalov.
With a victory in the final, Djokovic would tie Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the most major victories with 20. It would also set up a historic chase later
this year at the U.S. Open, where Djokovic could surpass Federer and Nadal and become the first men’s player to win all the majors in the same year since Rod Laver in 1969.
Berrettini, a man seeking his first major title, stands in Djokovic’s way after defeating
Hurkacz in the semifinals.
“It’s the best tennis day of my life. Hopefully Sunday will be even better!” Berrettini said after the victory.
Hurkacz was the man who broke many hearts at Wimbledon on Wednesday when he knocked out eight-time Wimbledon champion Federer, having previously beaten second seed Daniil Medvedev.
But the Polish 14th seed was
simply blown away over the first two sets as he faced the non-stop barrage that is the Berrettini serve.
Hurkacz did fashion a break point early in the opener, but the 24-year-old was unable to press it home as Berrettini held for 3-3.
About half an hour and nine games later, a dazed and confused Hurkacz found himself two sets down and staring at the same sort of pasting that he had handed out to Federer.
He did manage to make himself part of the semifinal in the third set, denying Berrettini the chance to unleash his destructive forehand where possible and taking the tiebreak to give the crowd, inevitably now backing the underdog, something to cheer about.
But Berrettini, the Queen’s Club champion last month, immediately broke again and wrapped up victory when Hurkacz’s final return of his mammoth serve floated long.
It will be a first Grand Slam final for Berrettini.
“I need a couple of hours to understand what happened. I played a great match, I enjoyed the crowd and I’m really happy. I never dreamed about this because it’s too much for a dream,” he said.