Matteo Berrettini is a late explosion tennis player. He is 23 years old and until last season he had not won any ATP match but this course, which started out of the 50 best in the world, has finished him as the eighth best in the circuit. The prize, the ticket to his first Masters Cup. The punishment, play their first two games against Djokovic and Federer. He lost both, of course, but he could pay a small tribute in the farewell: with all lost, the Italian defeated Dominic Thiem 7-6 (3) and 6-3 in 76 minutes.

It is fair to say that, in the same way that Berrettini had nothing more to lose in London, Thiem had nothing to gain: he was already mathematically qualified for the semifinals, the first of his career, came from defeating Djokovic in a duel epic of almost three hours and on Saturday he returns to play for a hole in the final. With everything open in the other group, I couldn't even play to 'choose' rival.

Berrettini dominated from a serve and a very powerful right: almost 80% of the points he played with his service were scored. Thiem, somewhat more subdued than against Federer and Djokovic, found no way to reach out. Almost not even tame the Italian's serve to raise the points to the rest.

The Roman tennis player still has moments of doubt. He already let them see Tuesday against Federer. When you intuit near an important point, there are times the serve, powerful, begins to shake, and the unforced errors appear. Before Thiem, having won only two points in the first four games for the rest of the first set, he was surprised with a blank break ... To yield a break in the next. Four mistakes escaped him.

A toast

But this time he did know how to remake himself and, after forcing the tiebreaker, he passed over that much-needed Thiem until he sealed the first victory of an Italian in the Masters Cup. Berrettini, who this year surprised getting into the semifinals of the US Open against Nadal and the Shanghai Masters 1000 against Zverev, said goodbye with a toast.

Little should weigh the game in Thiem's ​​suitcase, which already showed his cards in the first two duels against Nole and Federer, who will play the other place of this Borg Group. The Austrian, who has built his medal winners on clay - eight of the first 10 titles of his career, twice a finalist for Roland Garros - has finally grown on a hard track. Indian Wells already won against Federer, in Beijing against Tsitsipas, and now he wants to ratify himself with a good role in London.

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