Berrettini into Queen's final on his debut after beating De Minaur
Berrettini into Queen's final on his debut after beating De Minaur
LONDON (AFP) - Top seed Matteo Berrettini says he hopes he does not sleep too well ahead of Sunday s Queen s tournament final after beating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Italian has yet to drop a set on his debut at Queen s and although Australian number one De Minaur gave him a good workout he had too much power for his opponent.
An early break in the first set over the fourth-seeded De Minaur and then at 4-4 in the second was sufficient to seal his place in the final of the key warm-up tournament for Wimbledon.
"The goal of the week is to win the title," said Berrettini after he had let out a huge roar of delight.
"There is one more step, for sure, to achieve that but to reach the final is a great achievement with the history of the tournament.
"I had to play my best to beat Alex."
Berrettini -- who has been in fine form and arrived on the back of a quarter-final appearance at the French Open -- has won the Serbian Open this year and reached the final of the Madrid Masters.
He grinned when asked does he usually sleep soundly on the eve of a final.
"If I sleep too well then something is off," he said.
"I have to be nervous and the adrenaline has to kick in... I just hope I will sleep enough."
Berrettini -- ranked nine in the world and one of 10 Italians in the top 100 -- will play the winner of Canadian second seed Denis Shapovalov and Britain s Cameron Norrie.
Shapovalov reached the semi-finals earlier on Saturday completing victory in his match with American Frances Tiafoe, which had been interrupted by bad light on Friday, 6-3, 6-4.
