Matteo Berrettini's journey in the ATP 500 tournament in Vienna is interrupted in the quarter-finals. The Roman tennis player, given the bookmakers' favorite, had to raise the white flag against the rising star of tennis, the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, already defined as' the new Nadal ', who will soon replace in the Davis Cup. It was a challenge that lasted almost three hours of play, and very beautiful and hard fought, even if in the first set there was almost no story and in fact Alcaraz won 6-1, after that in the twentieth minute of play he was already on the 5-0. But then Berrettini was able to react well but he missed the decisive blow and after winning the second 'fraction' 7-6 he had to surrender, with the same score, in the third, overwhelmed by the potential of the very young (18 years old) rival. ,already rich in athletic qualities and already a complete player even if some still consider him not very 'elegant'.
Today he won because he was able to take time away from Berrettini by setting up an attacking match, "It was one of my best games ever, I would say extraordinary - said the Spaniard after the match -. My coach Juan Carlos Ferrero told me to play aggressive and I wanted to lead the exchange without losing my temper in the response rounds. And Matteo started to serve much better in the second set. " Too bad that in the third the boy from Murcia returned to impose himself, albeit at the tie-break. The difference was made by the only minibreak in which Alcaraz was able to exploit the gap left by Berrettini and then to defend himself when he was unable to put the first ball. In the partial the Spaniard had suffered, but in the tie break he rose in level making 100% with 4/4. Against Berrettini,Alcaraz celebrated his second career top 10 win after battling Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fifth set at the US Open. Now it's up to Jannick Sinner who has to contend with a tough opponent like Casper Ruud, number 8 in the ranking. Sinner this year has won four trophies and the top ten sees it on the horizon, perhaps tomorrow if he were to beat Ruud.