Italian Matteo Berrettini powered into the second week of the US Open for the third consecutive year Saturday after rallying from a set down to snap the eight-match winning streak of Belarusian Ilya Ivashka.
Berrettini’s edge in firepower proved decisive as he thundered 27 aces and saved 10 of 12 break points en route to a 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 victory.
Dominant on serve, Berrettini would have fancied his chances to close out the match in four sets. But after going 0/9 on his first break point opportunities, Ivashka claimed consecutive breaks in the fifth and seventh games of the fourth set to force a decider, as Berrettini paid the price for 15 unforced errors in the set.The 6’ 5” 25-year-old broke Ivashka at the start of the fifth set to race to a 3-0 lead and never took his foot off the gas, dropping just four points on serve in the decider. He improved his fifth-set record to 4-1.
The World No. 8 also reached the fourth round at Flushing Meadows in 2020 and the semi-finals in 2019, which had been his best Grand Slam result until he advanced to this year’s Wimbledon final.
Strengthening his claim to a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals on home soil in Turin in November, Berrettini next faces German qualifier Oscar Otte and is seeded to meet World No. 1 and his Wimbledon conqueror Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
World No. 144 Otte fired 15 aces in a 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 win over Italian veteran Andreas Seppi. The 28-year, who had just five tour-level wins to his name before the US Open, survived third-set tie-breaks in his first two qualifying matches and also rallied from a set down in the final round of qualifying against Bernabe Zapata Miralles just to make the main draw.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2Yu9POI
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