By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, July 9, 2021
Matteo Berrettini bolted through 11 straight games stopping Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4 becoming the first Italian—male or female—to reach the Wimbledon final.
Photo credit: Getty
Building Wimbledon history with an explosive blueprint, Matteo Berrettini was dominant demolition man today.
A bold Berrettini bolted through 11 straight games dismantling Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4 to burst into history as the first Italian—male or female—to reach the Wimbledon singles final.
More: Wimbledon Ladies' Final Preview
"I have no words, really, just thanks and I need I think a couple of hours to understand what happened," Berrettini said. "I just know that I played a great match. I'm really happy.
"I'm really glad to be here. I enjoyed the crowd. My family's here, my whole team. I think I never dreamed about this because it was too much for a dream. I'm just so happy."
The 25-year-old Berrettini is the third Italian man in history to reach a Grand Slam final—and the first since Adriano Panatta, who reached the final and went on to win the title at 1976 Roland Garros. Today is the legendary Panatta's 71st birthday and he's probably celebrating a powerful performance from 2019 US Open semifinalist Berrettini in front of a packed Centre Court crowd that included former champions Boris Becker, Pat Cash and Stefan Edberg.
The seventh-seeded Berrettini didn't shrink from the moment, he seized it with style. Berrettini dispensed all-court authority delivering 60 winners more than doubling Hurkacz's 27 winners to set up a Wimbledon final on Sunday against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
In the day's second semifinal, Djokovic defeated 10th-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-5 to reach his 30th major final. The final pits Djokovic 20-match major and Wimbledon winning streak vs. Berrettini's 11-match grass-court streak of success as the Serbian plays for history and a record-tying 20th Grand Slam title.
Italian fans will feast on the delirium from a Super Sunday that will see Berrettini play Djokovic in the Wimbledon final in the afternoon followed by Italy vs. England in the Euro soccer final at Wembley on Sunday night.
"I think so far it's the best day, tennis-wise of my life; hopefully Sunday is gonna be even better," Berrettini said. "I'm so proud to bring the flag here and so many great names they compare to me. And I feel kind of chills, but I'm doing it so I have to believe it."
An explosive Berrettini unleashed his wrecking ball serve, flamethrower forehand and some fine finesse to outclass the tight 14th-seeded Pole a couple of days after Hurkacz handed eight-time champion Roger Federer the worst Wimbledon loss of his career.
"Matteo played unbelievable match today. Huge congrats to him," Hurkacz said afterward." I mean, every single service game, he was serving bombs. I didn't have many chances, basically probably zero.
"So huge congrats for him that he kept, like, such a high level throughout the whole four sets. I mean, he played really well."
Though he grew up on Rome's red clay, Berrettini has grown into a dominant grass-court force raising his 2021 grass record to 11-0, including his run to the Queen's Club crown last month. Since 2019, Berrettini has won 23 of his last 24 grass-court matches.
Berrettini bulldozed Hurkacz's forehand. The Italian hit nearly half of his 60 winners from the crackling topspin forehand, fired 22 aces, saved both break points he faced and overpowered a skittish Hurkacz for much of the match.
Deadlocked at 3-all, Berrettini blasted a fantastic running forehand pass off a smash to pump himself up and haunt Hurkacz into deep mental malaise. That superb strike sparked the 11-game surge that saw Berrettini transform a 2-3 deficit into an overwhelming 6-3, 6-0, 1-0 lead.
Blocking back a return, Berrettini broke again to take the 35-minute opener when Hurkacz framed a forehand that ballooned out.
The focus Hurkacz showed sweeping Federer's first Wimbledon straight-sets loss in 19 years in the quarterfinals faded into pure fluster in his first major semifinal. A disconsolate Hurkacz showed his frustration, botching a drop shot to dump serve at love handing the Italian a 2-0 second-set lead.
Throwing down a pair of aces to back up the break, Berrettini had won 15 of the prior 16 points extending his lead to 3-0.
Mired in a free-fall, Hurkacz leaked a backhand wide of the sideline as Berrettini scored his fourth straight break for 4-0.
The Italian's imposing forehand tormented the flagging Pole all day. Berrettini spun a running forehand down the line bursting through his 10th consecutive game to force feed Hurkacz the bagel two days after the Miami Open champion dispensed the first shutout set Federer suffered in his 22-year Wimbledon career.
The Berrettini blow-out set saw him win 25 of 33 points in the set blasting 11 winners compared to just four for a haunted Hurkacz.
A dominant Berrettini rampaged through 11 straight games before Hurkacz finally stopped the hemorrhaging holding with a backhand volley for 1-all in the third set. It was the first time Hurkacz was close in a set since he held at love for a 3-2 first-set lead.
Settling in after a horrific second-set stretch, Hurkacz held throughout the third set to force the tie breaker.
A couple of Berrettini backhand errors followed by a netted forehand helped Hurkacz bolt to a 4-0 lead in the breaker. Racing up to a drop shot, a sprinting Hurkacz shoveled a sharp-angled backhand pass earning set points at 6-2. Bumping a forehand volley into the short court, Hurkacz closed the third set with a rousing roundhouse forcing a fourth set after one hour, 55 minutes.
"I think after the third set I was feeling that I was deserving to win the third set and I lost it," Berrettini said. "I said to myself it doesn't matter. I was feeling better. I was feeling the stronger player and that's what I said to myself and eventually it paid off." While Hurkacz left the court, Berrettini was bouncing around on the grass looking like a man eager to finish this dream day.
The seventh-seeded Italian roared through eight of the first 10 points to take a 2-0 fourth-set lead and never looked back. Credit Hurkacz for saving a match point in the ninth game to force the Italian to serve it out.
Serving for his first major final, Berrettini understandably felt the jitters opening with his first double fault of the day, but skimmed the tape with a volley, slammed a smash then banged an ace for two more match points.
Closing his biggest career win in two hours, 36 minutes, Berrettini pumped his palm over his heart and and erupted in a primal scream of triumph toward the support box as his parents and younger brother embraced in joy.
Berrettini stared down injury ghosts at the start of the season and is now relishing his rise to a maiden major final.
"I mean, it would have felt great even if I wasn't the first Italian," Berrettini said. "First slam finals. I don't know. I'm just so, so happy for everything. My year started in a good way, with the finals in ATP Cup. Then I got injured again. I kind of saw those ghosts again of my body kind of struggling.
"Again, I came back stronger. I think I fully deserve to be here. I want to enjoy like I did today. I want to enjoy my first final. Whoever's going to win today, I just appreciate what's happening. So I'm very happy."