Matteo Berrettini reached his first Grand Slam final after a draw at Wimbledon 2021, and it felt like a big moment. Although Berrettini lost the decisive match to Novak Djokovic, he has established himself as one of Italy’s finest tennis players. Following the defeat, Berrettini traveled straight from Wimbledon to Wembley, where he spent the night and the following days celebrating his success with the Italian side that won Euro 2020.
Three years later, Berrettini’s success is a distant memory, the result of injuries, bad luck and the brilliance of his brilliant opponents on Center Court. Jannik Sinner, who last month became the first Italian ATP No. 1 and has since propelled tennis in Italy to unprecedented heights, was in a tense and high-quality match on Wednesday afternoon. Played three perfect draws and consolidated the new status quo – breaking under pressure to defeat Berrettini 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(4), Advance to the third round.
“We are very good friends, we play Davis Cup together, we train together sometimes,” Sinner said later. “We have to play in such an important match, which is obviously very, very difficult. It was a very high-level match today and I thought we all played well. In the three tie-breaks, I was a little bit lucky at times, but That’s it for me today.
Berrettini has spent the past three seasons of his career since becoming the first Italian man to reach a Grand Slam final since Adriano Panatta in 1976 and rising to No. 6 in the ATP rankings. Troubled by injuries, his ranking dropped to 154th this year. While Berrettini is no longer influential, Sinner has grown into the best player in the world. This week marks the first Grand Slam event in which he is ranked No. 1 in the world.
Berrettini is unseeded and vulnerable, and the brutal draw will also present an extremely difficult challenge for Sinner. With a powerful serve and forehand complemented by a wicked backhand slice and an unusual feel on the court, Berrettini has become one of the best grass-court players of the past few years.
Entering center court, both players were serving extremely well and were frantically looking to hit the ball first with their forehands. However, the first-set tiebreak highlighted Sinner’s wider options in the match. His stronger defense, return of serve and backhand marked the difference between them, and he locked down his game and kept drawing unforced errors from Berrettini to ease into the tiebreak.
But after such a high-quality set, Berrettini’s confidence grew. He continued with his forehand and frustrated Sinner with a backhand slice that hit low on the grass. Berrettini broke serve first and led 4-2 in the second set.
But in the decisive moment, Sinner once again had more space and possibility in the game. After breaking serve, he opened the tie-break with a devastating backhand baseline winner, dominating inside the baseline and overpowering Berrettini’s backhand to take a two-set lead.
After two periods of intense concentration, Sinner’s level finally dropped at the start of the third set, with the world number one completely losing timing on his forehand. Berrettini’s serve continued to be incredible, keeping Sinner out of the game and making mistakes on his slice as the game turned. The 28-year-old powered through the third set and led 2-1 in the fourth set.
Still, Sinner didn’t panic. He fought back brilliantly and immediately recovered the break point, and as he served out the game the pressure was mounting on Berrettini’s shoulders. However, down 5-6 on match point and with a 40-point advantage, Berrettini fought back in stunning form, retaining his serve with quick returns, aces and forehand winners. Once again, Sinner saved his best tennis for the most decisive moment, with a superb return of serve that changed the gap between the pair and ended an exciting battle on Wednesday night.
“I knew I had to raise my level today if I wanted to compete with him,” he said. “He played the final here and he’s a grass court specialist. I’ve been looking forward to it. It was a challenge for me to get on the court. I’m very happy with the way I handled the situation.
Sinner bravely left center court after struggling early in the game with how to handle a challenging moment against a quality player. He’s moving better than ever on the grass, he’s getting stronger physically after a recent hip problem and, most importantly, he looks determined to add to his Grand Slam tally as quickly as possible.
Immediately after defending champion Carlos Alcaraz secured a third-round berth, he was told that his next opponent, Frances Tiafoe, was “coming after you.”
Alcaraz just smiled. “I’ll go find him,” he said. Alcaraz’s smile is almost as famous as his forehand, a feature that led to his exciting title win here last year. The Spaniard improved on Wednesday, beating Aleksandar Vukic 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-2.
The 69th-ranked Australian made life uncomfortable for Alcaraz, who served in the first set but was unable to close out the match. It was his last chance to win a tiebreak as French Open champion and then pull away to set up a third-round tie with Tiafoe.
“We played a very good match at the U.S. Open,” Alcaraz said of the American. “I know he is a very talented player and a top player on grass. It will be a very difficult match but I am ready to take on the challenge and play a high level of tennis and hopefully beat him.
Fifth seed Daniil Medvedev was so pressed by Frenchman Alexander Muller in the second round that he completely forgot about the score.
After trailing by one point at 6-3 in the tie-break, the Russian sat in his chair thinking he had lost the first set to his 102nd-ranked opponent. The referee then told him that he was actually alive in the first set and he returned to the baseline, but lost the next point anyway and fell behind.
Despite losing the tiebreak, Medvedev performed well and fought back in the next three sets to reach the third round.
“I thought it was 6-4 [not 5-3], I was a little crazy,” the 28-year-old said. “I thought the set was gone. I heard the referee say to me. At one point I started hearing: ‘Daniel, the score is 6-3.’ “My reaction was: “What are you talking about? Then I saw the score. I don’t know if I have encountered this situation before. I thought it was quite funny.
Eighth seed Casper Ruud was beaten in four sets by Fabio Fognini. The Norwegian, who had just recovered from the after-effects of parasitic disease, fought back from 5-2 down in the third set to extend the match, but Fognini held on to win 6-4, 7-5, 6. 7(1), 6-3.
