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01 November 2019

From far away the only prize that Matteo Berrettini has not earned directly on the field in an extraordinary season, which led him to enter the top 10 of the world ranking. To deliver it is, in fact, the Canadian Denis Shapovalov who, excluding the French Gael Monfils from the semifinals of the Masters 1000 of Bercy, has put in the hands of the Roman the pass for the Atp Finals of London.

A deserved reward for the blue, which last year these days sailed beyond the number 50 of the ranking, and an important moment for Italian tennis, which for over 40 years had not brought a player among the Masters after Adriano Panatta in 1975 and Corrado Barazzutti in 1978.

Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini also took part in the rich final tournament of the season in 2015, but in double. Eliminated in the second round of the Paris tournament by Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Berrettini had to rely on fate to preserve the advantage of points over the other rivals that would have allowed him to fly to London to cross the racket from next November 10 with Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer, Daniil Medvedev, Dominick Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev.

The last remaining was Monfils, who despite having the advantage of playing in front of a friendly audience was literally sunk by Shapovalov, with a score of 6-6, 6-2, leaving the Roman road free. In London, Berrettini will also try to break down a taboo, given that neither Panatta nor Barazzutti managed to take home a victory in the then Masters.