Italian seventh seed Matteo
Berrettini became the first Italian man to get into the
semi-finals of the Australian Open Tuesday by beating France's
15th seed Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2 and will meet no
5 seed and Spain great Rafa Nadal who is gunning for a record
21st Grand Slam victory.
Berrettini broke Monfils twice in the fifth after being pegged
back after winning the first two sets in a hotly contested match
where the Italian also had to battle a Melbourne crowd that was
mostly rooting for the French veteran and sometimes put the
Roman off his serve.
The 25-year-old, who lost to Serbian great Novak Djokovic in
last year's Wimbledon final, thus became the first Italian to
get into the Australian Open semis after many Italian greats had
come close in the past.
Another Italian, 20-year-old world number 10 Jannik Sinner, will
play Greece's 23-year-old fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in
another quarterfinal Wednesday.
World number 2 Daniil Medvedev of Russia, who plays Canadian
Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarters Wednesday, is the
tournament favourite after world no 1 Djokovic was
controversially banned from taking part and deported asa public
health risk over his failure to get jabbed for COVID-19.
The Australian Open website congratulated Berrettini on his
achievement saying:
"Bravo, Matteo 👏🇮🇹
Berrettini becomes the first Italian man in singles history to
reach the final four at the Australian Open".
Nadal, who is bidding to overtake Djokovic and Swiss legend
Roger Federer in the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) conversation,
avoided a repeat of last year's quarterfinal heartbreak to reach
his seventh semifinal at the Australian Open.
Nadal, 35, held off Canada's Denis Shapovalov 6-3 6-4 4-6 3-6
6-3 in four hours to the delight of the majority assembled at
Rod Laver Arena in Tuesday's afternoon heat, 11 months after
relinquishing a two-set lead against Tsitsipas.
Berrettini's only previous meeting with the Spaniard was a
straight-sets loss in the 2019 US Open final four, having also
ousted Monfils in the last eight in New York that autumn.
"That was the only time I've played Rafa and was a really tough
match for me," said Berrettini.
"He won the tournament afterwards. Was my first semifinals. I
didn't really know what to expect and even though the first set
I had set points, so I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a great
fight.
"He played five sets as well today. So he needs to rest as
well."
"It feels unbelievable. And hopefully tomorrow is gonna be a
second one," added Berrettini, beating his chest, with
countryman Sinner in action against Tsitsipas.
"I'm really happy for myself, was another great fight again
against Gael. Great match, a lot of emotions. I thought I had
him in the third (set) and then I found myself in a fifth, but I
really fought hard and I put everything in the court. That's
what I said to myself, and that's why I'm really happy.
"I'm really good friends with Jannick. I'm friends with
Stefanos. I wish them best of luck, but I'm gonna watch for
sure."
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