He missed the quarter-final in the “Happy Slam” and on the prestigious stage of the Rod Laver Arena Matteo Berrettini filled the gap, winning a place among the best eight at the Australian Open, first Grand Slam of 2022 (prize money of 54.2 million dollars) underway on the concrete of Melbourne Park in the Australian metropolis. And smells best ranking perfume: virtually at the moment he is n.6 after having bypassed Rublev. Monday it will be the other blue in the race, Jannik Sinner.
The 25-year-old from Rome, n.7 del ranking e del seeding, removed the pass for the quarters – the first in Melbourne those at Roland Garros (2021), Wimbledon (2021) and Us Open (2021 and 2019) – beating 75 76 (4) 64, after two hours and twenty-two minutes of struggle, the Spanish Pablo Carreno Busta, 21 ATP and 19th seeded, with the 30-year-old from Gijon, competing in the Happy Slam for the ninth time, who for the third time greets the tournament in the second round (he had also happened in 2018 and 2019).
There were no precedents between Matteo and Pablo. First partial marked by the batting rounds, with only Carreno forced to recover from 0-30 in the seventh game. In the eleventh, however, the blindfolded goddess decided to lend a hand to Berrettini in the form of two very tricolor ribbons that allowed the blue to snatch the rival’s service to zero (6-5). And in the twelfth game with the help of four aces, including the one to cancel the ball for the counter-break to the Spaniard (who had obtained it with a poisonous passer-by with a tight backhand), he forfeited the first set (7-5 ).
On the wings of enthusiasm Matteo got three consecutive breakpoints even at the start of the second set, but Carreno was good at pulling himself out of the hole. The batting rounds continued to be decisive and the only one to risk anything was always the Spaniard, in the ninth game, when the blue missed the break by burying the crossed right on the net. In the twelfth game Berrettini, down 0-30, got four consecutive points and it was the tie-break that decided. Balance up to 2 all, then the Spaniard felt a bit of tension and Matteo, always supported by the serve, flew to 6-2, then closing for 7 points to 4.
In the third fraction Pablo showed some small signs of discouragement, starting to struggle even in his own batting turns (as in the fourth game, which lasted 14 points even without break points): Matteo instead continued to serve like a train. In the sixth game the Spaniard canceled a break point but in the tenth he sent the forehand out and Berrettini finished 6-4 hitting his first quarter in Melbourne.
The tennis player trained by coach Vincenzo Santopadre – in his fifth participation in the Slam Down Under where he improved last year’s result when, due to the abdominal injury remedied in the third round against the Russian Khachanov, in the second round he did not even take the field against Tsitsipas – in the first two matches he did not shine: after a not so simple debut – success in four sets on the American Brandon Nakashima, # 68 ATP – also because of the stomach ache, and a second round not too exciting with a set left at statunitense Stefan Kozlov, n.169 of the ranking, on the scoreboard thanks to a wild card, here he is, however, to find himself against the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, n.31 in the ranking and seeding, beaten in the super-tiebreak of the fifth set, after having recovered a two-set advantage. Then in the second round the convincing victory over the other Spaniard, Carreno Busta, who had the same goal as the Roman: to reach the quarterfinals in Melbourne for the first time.
Tuesday in the quarters – first for him in Melbourne (he is in the top eight in a major for the fourth time in a row) – Berrettini will find the Frenchman Gael Monfils on the other side of the net, 20 of the ranking and 17 of the seeding. The 35-year-old from Paris, who started the season in a big way with the success in Adelaide (11th cob in Career), reached the quarterfinals for the second time in 17 participations (he had already succeeded in 2016, then stopped by Raonic).
Matteo won both previous challenges with “LaMonf”, played in the round robin of the ATP Cup three weeks ago (victory in two sets), and in the quarter-finals of the 2019 US Open (at the tie-break of the fifth set) always on open court.
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