(London) Defending Queen’s Club champion Matteo Berrettini preserved his chances of winning back-to-back tournaments on grass by overcoming a one-set deficit to defeat Denis Kudla.
Posted at 12:06 p.m.
Berrettini posted a 3-6, 7-5 (5), 6-4 victory over the player drafted from the qualifiers and will be one of only two players classified in the quarter-finals. Marin Cilic, No. 7, is the other.
The second-ranked Italian, who defeated Andy Murray in the final in Stuttgart on Sunday, has just returned from a three-month absence with a hand injury.
It was Berrettini’s powerful serve that saved him from deep shots that lacked tone against Kudla, 82e world racket, who won the first set without facing a single break point.
Three aces, however, helped Berrettini win the second set tiebreaker, after which he requested the presence of an athletic therapist.
Berrettini scored a break to take a 3-2 lead in the final set but was unable to confirm it. An unforced error from Kudla, however, allowed him to resume the break at 5-4.
The Italian saved a break point in the next game, before getting his hands on the duel on his first match point, with a backhand volley.
Berrettini will now face Tommy Paul, who defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 6-1, 6-4 after showing the exit to No. 6 seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the first round.