London (AFP)

Although already eliminated, Matteo Berrettini (N.8) became the first Italian to win a singles match at the Masters on Thursday, beating Austria's Dominic Thiem (N.5), already qualified for the semi-finals, in two sets 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.

All eyes are now on the match-cleaver in the evening between Novak Djokovic (N.2) and Roger Federer (N.3) - all two winners of Berrettini but beaten by Thiem--, whose winner will accompany the Austrian in the last square.

For Djokovic, the stakes will be all the more important as a victory is imperative if he wants to hope to steal the place of world No.1 at the end of the year to the Spaniard Rafael Nadal, still in the race for the first time. other hen.

This will be the 49th confrontation between the two men. And if the Serb will certainly not have the support of the public, everything acquired to the cause of "Roger", he will have at least the psychological advantage to lead 26 to 22 and to have won the last 5 meetings, including the Legendary final in five sets at Wimbledon this year.

We did not expect a tennis summit in the afternoon game without a stake, and we were right.

- Thiem, already head to his half -

"We had three big games in the last month, and I think today was the weakest of the three," admitted Thiem after the match.

The two men met in the quarterfinals in Shanghai, with a victory of the Italian 7-6 (10/8), 6-4, before Thiem took revenge at home in Vienna in three sets 3- 6, 7-5, 6-3 fifteen days later.

"I still tried to win this match at 100%," he assured, "but I knew in my head that I had to pay attention for Saturday," day of the semifinal.

Thiem was a lot less entrepreneurial than in his incredible match on Tuesday, when he knocked Djokovic down with daring and risk-taking 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/5 ) in 2 h 46 min.

"I'm really trying to have a 100% body for Saturday and it would not have been very smart to have another three-hour match today," he admitted.

Even though he came back from behind in the first set, Thiem scored only 12 points on winning strokes throughout the match, less than in the first set against Djoko and much less than his opponent's 30s. on the meeting.

- A little history page for Berrettini -

Berrettini took the opportunity to write a small page of national tennis history, since he is the first Italian not to return empty-handed of a Masters, unlike Corrado Barazzutti in 1978 or Adriano Panatta before him, in 1975.

Novice in the competition, the 23-year-old recently entered the world's top 10, savoring his meteoric progression, who was not in the top 50 at the start of the season.

"Being here was not a goal at the beginning of the year, not even before the US Open (where he reached the semifinals), you know, I did not think about it," he said. entrusts.

Beaten in two sets by Djokovic and Federer, he played for honor and energy, worn out by a long and intense season.

"There are some parts of my body that do not feel so good," he said, "but it's the life of an athlete, I'm just going to work to improve myself," he said. he confided before going to Madrid to participate in the Davis Cup new formula.

In the doubles tournament, the pair N.2 seeded Puku Lukasz Kubot and Brazilian Marcelo Melo ripped his ticket for the semifinals of the hands of the pair N.4 Rajeev Ram (USA) / Joe Salisbury ( GBR) 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 10-7.

© 2019 AFP