Matteo Berrettini opens a memorable Italian sports Sunday in London at Wimbledon. Before the footballers want to become European champions at Wembley against England, Berrettini can secure the first Italian title in the classic on grass (3 p.m., live on Sky).
The 25-year-old made it into the final on Friday with a four-set win against Hubert Hurkacz from Poland – there was no final with Italian participation in this Grand Slam tournament before, neither for women nor men. Berrettini needed a good two and a half hours at 6: 3, 6: 0, 6: 7 (3: 7), 6: 4 to reach his first final at a Grand Slam tournament.
A couple of fans jokingly sang “Football’s coming home”, the well-known soccer anthem and a little later there was a congratulation on Twitter from national soccer coach Roberto Mancini, who wrote: “On Sunday everyone with their hearts in Wimbledon and Wembley.”
Berrettini’s opponent in the final is tournament favorite Novak Djokovic. The Serb prevailed 7: 6 (7: 3), 7: 5, 7: 5 against Denis Shapovalov from Canada. Djokovic is now aiming for his 20th title in a Grand Slam tournament. This would set the record for Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The 34-year-old also wants to win the third of the four most important tournaments this year.
“Words fail me, I will need a few hours to process it,” said the proudly smiling Berrettini a few hours earlier that afternoon. “I played a great match. I never dreamed of that because it was too much. This is the best tennis day of my life so far. “
For his part, the 24-year-old Hurkacz missed out on becoming the first Pole to make it into the men’s final after breaking the hopes of eight-time champion Roger Federer.
The 15,000 spectators on the completely filled Center Court saw a one-sided first semi-final on Friday. In the duel between two 1.96 meters long players, Hurkacz could not build on his brilliant performance against Federer.
The world number 18. made too many mistakes and couldn’t make use of his few options. After barely an hour, Berrettini, who played almost perfectly, was ahead with 2-0 sets. After that, Hurkacz got better and avoided the quick end with a strong tie-break. However, he lost his service game immediately afterwards, this advantage brought the strong serving Berrettini to the goal. (dpa)
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