London, July 9: Matteo Berrettini on Friday became the first Italian player to reach the Wimbledon Championship singles final as he defeated Poland's Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4.
Hurkacz had defeated 39-year-old Roger Federer to storm into the semifinals of the ongoing Wimbledon on Wednesday but the Polish tennis player wasn't able to carry forward the momentum.
When Berrettini led 6-3, 6-0 it appeared as though this meeting of first-time Wimbledon semi-finalists was going to be very one-sided.
While Hurkacz took the third set in the tie-break, Berrettini broke in the opening game of the fourth set and went on to win 6-3, 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4 on Friday.
From 2-3 in the opening set, Berrettini won 11 games in a row. The seventh seed, who also reached the 2019 US Open semi-finals, did not lose his serve across four sets and saved both of the breakpoints he faced on Centre Court Berrettini will next lock horns either with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic or 10th seeded lefty Denis Shapovalov in the tournament final on Sunday.
