With his back against the wall Saturday, Matteo Berrettini survived to reach the final at the Tennis Napoli Cup. After a slow start, the Italian raised his level on serve to overcome American Mackenzie McDonald 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-3.
In a hard-fought clash at the ATP 250 event, Berrettini struggled on serve in the first set and was troubled by a foot injury, receiving a medical timeout at 2-5 in the opener.
However, the second seed stuck to the task at hand and slowly turned the match around. He fired 10 aces and struck 30 winners across the second and third sets to advance after two hours and 25 minutes on home soil.
“I don’t even know how I did it,” Berrettini said in his on-court interview. “I wasn’t feeling very good. I asked for the physio because my foot was hurting. It happened so many times in my career that I had to fight through so many things, not just thinking about the tennis ball. I didn’t want to retire. My team told me ‘I think you should stop’. But I tried and I found a way.”
[ATP APP]
With his victory, Berrettini has climbed to 13th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin on 2,375 points. The 26-year-old, currently 690 points behind seventh-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime, will need a strong end to the season to give him a chance of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for a third time.
Berrettini, who did not drop a set in his opening two matches in Naples, will face Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic or countryman Lorenzo Musetti in the final on Sunday. The second seed is chasing his third tour-level title of the season this week, after triumphing on grass in Stuttgart and The Queen’s Club.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/8Zmf9eq
No comments:
Post a Comment