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Matteo Berrettini US Open 2022
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Matteo Berrettini into Naples semi-final after ‘really good day at the office’


Matteo Berrettini is into his fifth semi-final of the season after another dominant victory in Naples. 

The world number 16 backed up his revenge victory in the second round by downing Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-2, 6-3 in front of a home crowd. Berrettini broke Daniel to open both sets before holding the lead to victory without facing a break point.

“One of the most beautiful offices in the whole world,” Berrettini said in his on-court interview. “Look at the view here. We’re playing basically on the sea. It’s beautiful, the atmosphere is incredible. I think I played a really good match, so really good day at the office.”

Berrettini is now 3-1 against Daniel. He has won their three most recent meetings after losing their first battle on the clay of Istanbul in 2018.

“We played each other many times so I kind of knew what to expect from him,” Berrettini explained. “My plan worked pretty well.”

Matteo Berrettini reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January. He later made final appearances in Stuttgart, at Queen’s and in Gstaad, claiming the title on the first two occasions. He will face the winner of Mackenzie McDonald and Zhizhen Zhang for a place in the final.

Following three months out injured from the end of March to June, the Italian has fallen from sixth to 16th in the world. Should he win the title in Naples and other results go his way, Berrettini could be ranked as high as 13th come the next rankings update on Monday.

Currently 14th in the live ATP race to Turin, he is still in with an outside chance of qualifying for the ATP Finals. However, he would need to go deep in Vienna and at the Paris Masters, as well as hope for players above him to falter.

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