They were the revelations of the 2021 edition of Wimbledon: Matteo Berrettini reached the final on that occasion, while Denis Shapovalov reached the semi-final (in both cases it was Djokovic who beat them).
For a series of reasons, in the last three years, they have had to work hard to achieve important results on the ATP circuit. The two, numbers 95 and 117 respectively in the rankings, found themselves facing each other in the challenge valid for a place in the quarterfinals of the ‘250’ in Stuttgart.
The 28-year-old Italian, rather solid on serve, did not pay for the almost three hours he spent on the court the other day against Safiullin and prevailed in two sets against the Canadian, who was unable to find the right countermeasures to cause difficulty the blue.
The numerous direct points scored by ‘The Hammer’ (overall 68% of first serves but 85% of points) allowed him to hold all the rounds of serve, conceding only one break point at the opening of the first set.
In the crucial moment, at 4-4, it was the 25-year-old born in Tel Aviv who gave up the serve and effectively handed the score to the Roman. In the second, a break was once again enough, this time in the fifth game, for Berrettini to take full control of the set and proceed without problems towards his second consecutive victory after the two-month break.
In the next round he will face Ben Shelton or James Duckworth.
Nardi out of the Libéma Open
In the ATP 250 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch Luca Nardi failed to gain access to the quarterfinals. The Italian fought hard against the American Sebastian Korda, who in the end was able to take home both sets 7-5.
In the first set the Pesaro player, 3-0 down, did very well to recover when the American found himself serving to close the set (5-3), but gave up the advantage with the serve at 15. Same court in the second set, with the 20-year-old trying to contain Korda’s aggression in response but unable to avoid the decisive break.
A very good adventure in Holland for the class of 2003, who will now focus on the next events on grass.
