Matteo Berrettini will be Rafael Nadal ‘s last hurdle before the Australian Open final. The Italian tennis player, seeded number 7 in the final draw, defeated Gael Monfils (6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2) to reach the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the first time in his career. Finalist at Wimbledon and at the Masters 1000 in Madrid in 2021, the penultimate round in Aussie territory climbs the podium of the highest levels in top-level tournaments for a player who wants more and aspires to settle in the Top-5 in the coming months.
Berrettini , who had already ended the career of Carlos Alcaraz –in the third round– and Pablo Carreño –in the round of 16– at the Australian Open, was up against a seasoned veteran like Monfils for a place in the semifinals. His greatest weapons, as almost always, were the serve and a forehand with which he dominated exchanges despite the physical superiority of a Gael who continues to make a difference on this level at 35 years old.
The match had two opposite sides, with the first two sets falling on Berrettini ‘s side in even instances and a single break difference, before the reaction of Monfils , spurred on by the public and who won the next two sets to force the match. decisive.
However, by then, with more than three hours of play played, Gael had burned all his ships and the first break of the fifth, which fell on Berrettini ‘s side, came together with the red carpet that ended up granting his first pass to the semifinals of the Australian Open and the duel with Nadal, which will be played on Friday, in principle, in the first round of the Rod Laver Arena.
