Matteo Berrettini does not stop and flies to the semi-finals at Queen's: the defending champion will be able to continue to defend his London title, after the victory against American tennis player Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals.
The match with the US player, number 35 in the world ranking, began slowly: but the blue, fresh from a victory on the grass in Stuttgart, soon found his rhythm and closed the game in two sets.
A much less difficult match than the one against Denis Kudla in the round of 16, which led him to win the place in the semifinals in just over an hour.
"I didn't start the way I wanted", admitted the Roman tennis player, number 10 in the ATP rankings, at the end of the match, "but I knew I would be able to recover. My game grew and I was able to find the right size ".
Berrettini seemed to leave a bit tired: in the first set he found himself down 1-4, with an unusual difficulty in serving.
But from there the blue put in 5 consecutive games, also thanks to Paul's mistakes on the forehand.
Despite the tiredness after the three sets and the 2 hours and 45 match against Kudla, Berrettini continued to play with clarity and to take advantage of Paul's uncertainties, dominating the second set without too much difficulty.
The 26-year-old from Rome ended the game with a 6-2 win thanks to his third ace.
It is the sixth victory in a row for the blue top player after the injury that stopped him for almost three months and forced him to skip the clay.
A recovery that, said Berrettini, was made possible "by my physiotherapists, my doctor and the love of my family".
"I really wanted to come back for the season on grass and especially here," in the Queen's Club, he added.
Tomorrow in the semifinal Berrettini will face the Dutch Botic Van De Zandschulp, number 29 in the ATP ranking, who defeated the Spanish Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in two sets.
For the tennis player from Wageningen it is the first time in his career in the semifinals in a tournament on grass.
The blue had beaten the 26-year-old Dutchman in three sets in the only previous
last year in the second round of Wimbledon.
And even if the main goal now is to defend the Queen's title, Berrettini is already thinking about the third Grand Slam tournament: "I hope to have a week off and do what I did last year. Maybe even better".
