Matteo Berrettini stormed into his first Grand Slam final behind a 6-3, 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4 over Hubert Hurkacz in the semifinals at the All England Club on Friday.
He is the first Italian man to reach the Wimbledon final and is coming off a semifinal appearance at the French Open. He will play the winner of the match between Novak Djokovic and Denis Shapovalov.
“I think I never dreamed about this because it was too much for a dream,” Berrettini said in the on-court interview. “I’m just so happy.”
Berrettini, seeded seventh, relied on his serve and forehand to lay in winners and took advantage of 11 straight game victories. Hurkacz came back in the final set to give the Italian a tough time and forced a fourth set. Berrettini used his serve to get out of it and move into his first Grand Slam final of his career.
It was Hurkacz, 24, who took control of the match early with big serves and a comeback from 0-40 in the fourth game. But then the 25-year-old Berrettini, trailing 2-3, took full control for a match and a half. He stormed through and won 11 straight games to go up 6-3, 6-0, 1-0 en route to a finals berth.
Hurkacz, who came into Wimbledon having lost six straight matches, rediscovered his serve in the third set. He drew even with the Italian at each step in the third and forced a tiebreaker. He nearly won every point in the tiebreaker and looked sharper than he had all day, eventually surviving to go another set.
Berrettini finished it off with five aces in his second-to-last service game and eventually won out in the end.
Hurkacz, the No. 14 seed, made it this far with a stunning straight-sets victory against Roger Federer. It was the first time in 19 years Federer had lost in straight sets and Hurkacz finished it off with a 6-0 set. He came into his first-ever Grand Slam semifinal having defeated the No. 2 and No. 6 seeds in the tournament draw.
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