KITZBÜHEL/WASHINGTON, July 26, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)
Arguably, Matteo Berrettini is enjoying the best two-week stretch of his pro tennis career this month. Friday afternoon at the ATP 250 Generali Open on red clay in Kitzbühel, Austria, the 28-year-old Italian from Rome ran his winning streak to nine with a 6-4, 6-4 semifinal victory over 116th-ranked Yannick Hanfmann of Germany.
Although it took the 50th-ranked Berrettini five match points and an hour and 30 minutes to defeat Hanfmann, he was impressive in striking 11 aces, winning 89 percent of his first-serve points, compiling 27 winners while making just six unforced errors, and saving the only break point he faced. Berrettini outscored Hanfmann 62-53. Now, he’s through to his second straight tour-level final after winning the EFG Swiss Open last week in Gstaad, Switzerland.
9️⃣ match winning streak!@MattBerrettini storms into the Kitzbuhel final after taking down Hanfmann 6-4 6-4!#GeneraliOpen pic.twitter.com/MnyKyScYL3
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 26, 2024
“I feel really good. Obviously I feel tired in the way that I have had a lot of matches on my shoulders, but it’s a good feeling,” Berrettini said during his on-court interview after improving his 2024 win-loss record to 20-5. “It’s not tired that I cannot play anymore, it’s tired that I’m pushing myself and this is what I was looking to before the tournament, hoping to have as many matches as possible.
“It’s been a great two weeks and hopefully tomorrow’s going to be another title; that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
In Saturday’s title match, Berrettini will play 91st-ranked Hugo Gaston of France, who advanced by retirement over No. 77 Facundo Diaz Acosta of Argentina, ahead 6-1, 2-0. The semifinal was stopped after 35 minutes due to a right knee injury suffered by Diaz Acosta. Thursday evening, Gaston saved two match points to upset defending champion and top seed Sebastian Baez of Argentina.
All the best Facundo 😔
Hugo Gaston reaches just his 2nd ATP tour final after Diaz Acosta is forced to retire early in the second set#GeneraliOpen pic.twitter.com/uC3sjV0efw
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) July 26, 2024
While Gaston will be going after his first career ATP Tour title and is playing in his first final since losing to Casper Ruud at Gstaad in 2021, Berrettini will be going after a 10th career title — his third of 2024 after winning crowns at Marrakech and last week at Gstaad — and sixth on clay.
The final 2 in Kitzbuhel 🏆#GeneraliOpen pic.twitter.com/MaSsLXJpBG
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 26, 2024
Around the Generali Open
No. 5 seeds Constantin Frantzen and Hendrik Jebens of Germany advanced to the doubles final with a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 10-7 upset win over No. 2 seeds Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Skander Mansouri of Tunisia in one hour and 22 minutes. The Germans outpointed their opponents 69-61.
In Saturday’s final, Frantzen and Jevens, who were semifinalists last week in Hamburg, will oppose No. 6 seeds Alexander Erler of Austria and Andreas Mies of Germany. The Austrian/German duo defeated No. 7 seeds Lloyd Glasspool of Greg Britain and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands, 6-1, 3-6, 10-7, in 60 minutes. Erler and Mies outpointed their opponents 56-43.
Friday’s Generali Open results
Saturday’s Generali Open order of play
By the numbers
Saturday’s final between Matteo Berrettini and Hugo Gaston will be their first at tour level. However, they met once on the ATP Challenger Tour, earlier this year in Phoenix on a hard-court surface, won by Berrettini, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
“Quotable …”
“I feel pretty good on court, physically, mentally, my game and my shots and everything are feeling really good and really strong, so I’ve got really got confidence. But you have to win every point and you have to win the last one if you want to drink the champagne so I try to leave my best on court and for the moment this week it’s not bad.”
— Hugo Gaston of France, during his on-court interview after advancing to his second career ATP Tour final.
