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Berrettini Australian Open 2021
ATP Tennis Players, Tennis News

‘I was just playing more aggressive’ – Matteo Berrettini marches into first Masters final in Madrid


Matteo Berrettini says that he proved his big serve is far from his only weapon as he beat Casper Ruud in the Madrid Masters semi-finals.

The Italian has bounced back superbly from the abdominal injury he suffered at the Australian Open by winning the Belgrade Open last month.

He has backed that up in Madrid, where he will now play a first Masters level final after he beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in the semis on Saturday.

“My serve is my weapon, but today I think I returned a lot and I put pressure on him,” Matteo Berrettini said.

“I was just playing more aggressive. He (Ruud) is kind of like me, he likes to run around the forehand and play with spin. But I guess today I was playing better than him.

“The other time he beat me, so it’s always a great fight against him. He [reached] three semi-finals in a row [also Monte-Carlo and Munich] so he was feeling confident.

“I guess that’s why I’m maybe even more happy with my win today.”

Berrettini will face Alexander Zverev in the final, with the German looking in particularly impressive form this week.

“I saw him, he’s playing really good,” Berrettini said of Zverev. “He’s solid. He moves well. For his height, he’s really good. He serves well.

“I mean, he’s in the final. He beat Rafa [Nadal] and Dominic [Thiem], probably the best players on clay.

“It’s going to be a challenging match, but I’m in the finals. I guess the best two guys are going to play each other.”


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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.