Wimbledon: Double delight awaits the Italians in London. One at the Wembley stadium, and the other at the Wimbledon, as an inspired Matteo Berrettini joined the Italian football team in the grand fianale on Sunday.
Berrettini will face Novak Djokovic who beat Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5, while their football team take on England in the Euro 2020 on the same day later in the night.
A truly impressive victory for Djokovic who is one win away from a monumental achievement, bidding for his third Grand Slam title in a row and a 20th major crown.
Shapovalov gave everything out there surprised the Serbian. Djokovic is really not to be denied in Grand Slam this year for now. His 30th Grand Slam final, 7th at Wimbledon.
Earlier, at the Centre Court in Wimbledon, Berrettini raced into his first Grand Slam final with a superb performance against Hubert Hurkacz in the opening semi-final.
This was the No.7 seed's 11th victory in a row on grass and the only surprise was that it was so one-sided at times against Roger Federer's conqueror. Berrettini won 6-3, 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4, including one run of 10 games in a row.
Berrettini exerted huge pressure on the Pole's serve throughout and the confidence on his groundstrokes which had been missing at times in his quarter-final victory against Felix Auger-Aliassime returned in abundance. The first set swung Berrettini's way with a break of serve in a spectacular seventh game. He won two sensational rallies, one courtesy of a net cord, and broke again in the 10th game to take it 6-4.
Hurkacz endured a horrible start to the second set, miscuing a volley and then under-hitting a drop shot as he dropped his serve to trail 2-0. Before this match, the Pole had dropped serve just four times in five matches.
It didn't get any better. The bigger the attempted shot, the more likely he was to miss and the second set passed in a mere 23 minutes.
The No.14 seed steadied himself at the start of the third set and forced a tie-break. He had won his previous three tie-breaks this Fortnight and claimed the first three points. Berrettini then netted a simple volley to make it 0-4 and soon the set was his. However, the Italian raised his game with an early break in the fourth set and his serve ensured he becomes the first man from Italy to reach a singles final at Wimbledon.
The Italian unleashing an array of powerful ground-strokes that kept Hurkacz under check throughout the match in two hours and 37 minutes, becoming the first player from Italy to reach the Wimbledon final. This was the seventh seed's 11th victory on grass as he had come into the tournament with victory in a buildup tournament.
The Italian 25-year-old broke his Polish rival's serve in the seventh game of the first set and then broke again in the 10th game to win 6-4. The second set was totally one-sided as Berrettini kept Hurkacz's serve under pressure and took it 6-0 in just 23 minutes.
Hurkacs, the 14th seed here, steadied his game in the third set and took it to a tiebreaker and won it easily without giving Berrettini any chances. Berrettini raised his game again in the fourth and ended his Polish rival's challenge with an early break.
