Berrettini’s serving barrage sees off Tsitsipas in Gstaad SF

Is there anyone better in the mountain conditions of the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad than Matteo Berrettini?

The Italian on Saturday booked his spot in the championship match for the third time at the clay ATP 250 by downing top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(6), 7-5 in a semi-final of fine margins. Berrettini held his nerve in a tense first-set tie-break before clinching the only break of serve of the match in the 12th game of the second set to earn a one-hour, 43-minute victory.

The sixth-seeded Berrettini had not beaten Tsitsipas in three previous Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings against the Greek. He set that record straight with a near-perfect serving display on Saturday in the Swiss Alps, where he did not face a break point and won 92 per cent (46/50) of points behind his first delivery, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

“I know that I have to be really focused, because I couldn’t break him until the end,” said Berrettini in his on-court interview. “I put a lot of attention and energy when I was serving, because I knew that the match could change. Stefanos is a great player, he knows how to mix things up and the tie-break was really right, but again like yesterday I think I played a little bit better in important moments.

“I kept serving well and believing that something could happen in a return game, and it happened in the end.”

Matteo the warrior 😤@MattBerrettini gets a two-set victory against Tsitsipas to reach the #SwissOpenGstaad final 🔥@SwissOpenGstaad pic.twitter.com/XNGdLTSbX8

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 20, 2024

Berrettini will take on Quentin Halys in Sunday’s championship match, as he looks to add a second Gstaad crown to the one he won in 2018. The Italian also reached the final in 2022, when he fell to Casper Ruud.

“Every year, every final is different, definitely,” said Berrettini, when asked how his 2024 final run compared. “The first one was unexpected. I came here and had never even played semis on Tour. I loved the conditions and match by match was playing better, and then I got the title, so that was definitely different.

“This one feels special for many reasons. I’ve been off the court because of injuries and stuff, so coming back and reaching the final here in this special place, it is something special. Definitely one of the best.”

Berrettini was outside the Top 150 of the PIF ATP Rankings as recently as March after an injury-plagued 12 months, but he is now up to No. 58 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and could return to the Top 50 if he wins the title in Gstaad.

In the first semi-final of the day, French qualifier Halys continued his dream run by easing past fifth seed Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 7-6(2). A former World No. 61, Halys is competing this week as the No. 192 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Yet he has deployed his big-serving game to great effect in Switzerland and will now take on Berrettini in his maiden ATP Tour final.

Although it will be the first Lexus ATP Head2Head clash between Berrettini and Halys, the pair has met once before at an ITF World Tennis Tour event in Italy in 2015, when Halys came out on top.

“It was a long time ago. I remember it was in Piombino in Tuscany, definitely on a different surface, a hard court,” recalled Berrettini. “I remember I couldn’t return his serve, so hopefully tomorrow I’m going to be able to do it. I saw every match that he played [this week], and I guess like me he’s getting more and more confident. He played so many matches and won against great players. It’s going to be a tough one, but I’m going to be ready.”