Stuttgart [Germany], June 15 : Playing his first tournament since Monte-Carlo in April, Matteo Berrettini reached the Stuttgart final, defeating countryman Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-0 to reach the championship match.
The former world no 6, thriving on grass events, needed just 66 minutes to outplay his countryman to reach his second ATP Tour final of the season.
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"When you win like this, it's better. You just burn less energy. I think I played enough during the week. So today, it was really good to play an hour and six minutes," Berrettini said as quoted by ATP.
Berrettini has thrived on grass throughout his career. The 2021 Wimbledon finalist has triumphed in Stuttgart twice before and is one win away from claiming a hat-trick of crowns at the German ATP 250.
"Obviously, it's never easy when you play against a good friend like Lorenzo. We know each other pretty well. Especially at the beginning, I think you could see there was a little bit of tension. But I was able to hold my nerves, especially when I served for the first set. And then after that, I was feeling better and better and happy for the win," Berrettini said.
There were razor-thin margins in the first set. Musetti actually earned more break points in the opener (4-2) but did not convert any of his chances. Berrettini faced a 0/40 deficit when he served for the set at 5-4 but powered through to move within one set of victory.
Musetti then gifted him a break to begin the second set when he missed a high backhand volley. Berrettini surged to the finish line from there, converting four of his seven break points to triumph.
The Italian will next face Jack Draper, who defeated Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 6-3 in 72 minutes.
The 22-year-old British slammed 13 aces and won 94 per cent of his first-serve points (31/33) and he did not face a break point in the match.
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