Matteo Berrettini continues his march upon returning to the field. Another solid performance for the Roman player who beats the Australian qualifier James Duckworth with a score of 6-4, 7-5 and reaches the semi-finals of the ATP 250 in Stuttgartwhich saw him triumph in 2019 and 2019 and 2022. Now in the semi-final tomorrow there is one between Musetti and Bublik and this success will allow him to also participate in Queen’s next week thanks to a special exempt (exempt from the qualifiers being still busy in Germany).
Berrettini starts better than his opponent in response: already in the first game he reaches 30-30, at 1-1 he takes 0-30 and misses a fairly easy backhand on the 15-30 and in the fifth game the break is finally ripe: on the first two break points Duckworth gets by with serve and forehand, but on the third chance he can’t do anything, with Berrettini who defends himself great and finds the last centimeters of the court with the backhand in slice. A break that is managed without too many problems until the end of the set, except for a slightly more complicated game, the sixth, which ends up with the advantages.
Even in second set it is always the Roman player who makes himself more dangerous in response: in the third game he takes the lead, in the fifth game he goes 0-40, but Duckworth is very good at canceling out the break points granted, also serving a very aggressive second at 30-40. Berrettini also risks something at 2-3 15-30, but is also saved thanks to a bad volley missed by the Australian. Game after game the tension rises for the Aussie player: three serious forehand errors on the 5-5 and break at the right time for Berrettini. The blue doesn’t even tremble in the final game and closes the match, reaching the semi-final.
A fantastic performance by Berrettini at serve: 13 aces and 89% of points won with the first serve (33 points out of 37), no break points granted. The blue player won 13 points from 18 goals.
