Wimbledon: Berrettini beats Hurkacz to reach 1st Grand Slam final

London, July 9 (IANS): Seventh seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy stormed into his maiden Grand Slam final with a four-set victory over Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, the man who threw Roger Federer out of the grass-court tournament.

Unleashing an array of powerful ground-strokes that kept Hurkacz under check throughout the match, Berrettini raced to a 6-3, 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4 victory in two hours and 37 minutes, becoming the first player from Italy to reach the Wimbledon final. This was the seventh seed’s 11th victory on grass as he had come into the tournament with victory in a buildup tournament.

The Italian 25-year-old broke his Polish rival’s serve in the seventh game of the first set and then broke again in the 10th game to win 6-4. The second set was totally one-sided as Berrettini kept Hurkacz’s serve under pressure and took it 6-0 in just 23 minutes.

Hurkacs, the 14th seed here, steadied his game in the third set and took it to a tiebreaker and won it easily without giving Berrettini any chances.

Berrettini raised his game again in the fourth and ended his Polish rival’s challenge with an early break.

Berrettini served 22 aces against five by Hurkacz. He capitalised on six of the 10 break points he earned — an unusual scenario for his Polish rival who had dropped his serve just four times in five matches. The Italian sent down 60 winners as against 27 by Hurkacz, who also committed 26 unforced errors.