Matteo puts muscle, head, heart in the field. He loses the first partial, reacts and makes his 2nd at the tie-break but is not enough. In the semifinal in Miami, after 2 hours and 44 ‘, the American goes to us who will now face the Czech Mensik
An extraordinary Matteo Berrettini is not enough to beat Taylor Fritz, at the end of a beautiful quarter -final of Miami’s ATP 1000. The Roman canceled six Match Points in the second set, played on par with the series head number three of the tournament but in the end he had to give in to the American in three sets (7-5 6-7 (7) 7-5 in two hours and 44 minutes). Berrettini, now number 27 in the live ranking, however seems to have returned to that of the good times. A year ago, in this period, Matteo played Phoenix’s Challenger, now he still plays it, at the age of 29, with the best. Excellent viaticum for the season on Earth, always congenial to him. Fritz will meet Jacob Mensik, born in 2005, player on the launching pad in the semifinal.
The game
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For the third match in a row, Berrettini snatches the opponent’s joke in the first game of the game, as he had done with Bergs and De Minaur. Fritz is not there and has two break balls the next game, Matteo cancels the first but not the second. One by one and neither of them still kept the service. On 2-2 Berrettini has two other break balls, but Fritz is very good, nothing to do. What seems to suffer most, at the start, is the number four in the world, and seeing Matteo we understand why: the Roman has rarely seen move so well in the field, especially laterally, which allows him to arrive with a perfect timing on the ball and release all his power. Yet, although both are great “beats”, at the beginning it looks like a match of the break balls: on the 3-2 it is Fritz to have another in his favor, but Matteo Azzecca three services in a row and goes in a tie. The American raises the level and plays better above all in response, it better reads the Berrettini service and becomes more precise and less phalloid in the exchanges, deflating the row of the Roman, which cannot be more incisive as at the beginning with the straight, also suffering on the reverse diagonal. You arrive on 6-5 and Matteo offers two other break balls which are also set point: good second for Fritz, who thus takes home the first set 7-5 in 48 minutes.
Second set
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The second set is more balanced and linear than the previous one. Both Fritz and Berrettini hold their service shifts well, losing very few points, very high first percentages, with Matteo touches 90% and the American who responds blow by blow, keeping control of the exchange from the bottom. It reaches 40-40 for the first time on 5-4 for the seeded number 3, with two-point Fritz of the match, but Matteo does not give up and draws the accounts on 5-5. On 6-5 for the Californian the ribbon plays against Berrettini, with two unfortunate shots for Matteo who bring Fritz to 15-30. The blue misses a very easy vole and you go 15-40, double match point for the American. Fritz throws the first on the net, on the second the American response really comes out of nothing. Match point canceled, you go to the tie break. Gorgeous, exciting, crazy. Fritz flies on 4-1, with two Ace Berrettini reports below, on 4-3 Fritz wins a beautiful, long exchange, closed with a deadly diagonal straight, then taking 6-3. Three other matches points for the American: Berrettini saves two on his service, and then a third on the Fritz service. It goes, incredibly, on 6-6, with five occasions wasted by the American to close the meeting. Fritz does not get upset, and with an ace the sixth match point gets, also canceled this with a great before Matteo, which then keeps the service and rises on 8-7 in his favor. And here, at his first set point, the blue with two deadly straight takes the second part of the second part, with Fritz incredulous. After an hour and 50 minutes, go to the third set.
Third set
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In the partial decisive Berrettini starts well, it seems in total control, even physically, but the first break ball, from nothing, is for Fritz, on the 2-2, promptly canceled by Matteo. None of the two gives up nothing, both respond blow by blow to the opponent, in a match really played on very few points. On 5-5 in a game that seems to go away easy, Berrettini offers another break ball in Fritz, but also cancels this with a deadly straight, but on 40-40 the American finds a beautiful answer with the reverse and earns a second opportunity to climb 6-5. Matteo does not give up and cancels this with a first winning first one, showing that he brings out the best in the delicate moments of the meeting. The game, however, is not over, and with another reverse Fritz takes another break ball, and this time it converts it with the help of a pinch of luck, which makes a ball remain on the field after a confused recovery of the Californian. The American serves to serve on 6-5, and in the seventh match point he closes the game after two hours and 44 minutes.
Djoko, what a record! The other semifinal will be between Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov. The Serbian beating Sebastian Korda in two sets (6-4 7-6 (4)) becomes the oldest semifinalist of a 1000 since 1990. For the former n.1 in the world it is the eight-time time in his career between the magnificent four in a 1000: the hunt for his hundredth continuous title.
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