Gaël Monfils falls at the gates of the semi-finals against Matteo Berrettini

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Matteo Berrettini put an end to the beautiful Australian career of Gaël Monfils, during the final meeting of the night session on the Rod Laver Arena, Tuesday, January 25. The Italian qualified in pain for the semi-finals of the Australian Open by beating the Frenchman, valiant but unable to keep up the pace in the fifth set to lose 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2 in 3h50 of play.

Relying on a solid serve and a powerful forehand, Berrettini pocketed the first set without any real difficulty, in 37 minutes of play and committing only five unforced errors. Despite a great battle in the second set, especially in the fourth game which ended in favor of Berrettini after ten equalities and 20 minutes of combat, the world number 7 broke to lead 4-3. A break that Monfils will not be able to erase.

But the Frenchman had a burst of pride in the third round. Back to the wall, Gaël Monfils, so far too much in control of his shots, managed to relax to achieve his first break of the match. He thus seized the opportunity offered by the Italian, a little less dashing physically and more feverish on his service, to snatch this set. Then more tense, Berrettini then dropped the fourth round to the French, more creative and on the initiative, savoring a touch of newfound success.

But, as often, the fifth set turned out to be surprising. After a slump, Berrettini regained his intensity, and played his game to lead 4-0, before pocketing the final set 6-2. Since the beginning of his career, and before this match, Matteo Berrettini led 24 times 2 sets to 0, and never lost the match afterwards. A statistic that he again confirmed against Gaël Monfils.

For the seventh time in his career, the Frenchman pushed his opponent to five sets after being down two sets to nil. For the fifth time, he bows.

For their third confrontation, Berrettini thus remains unbeaten against Monfils. The Italian had indeed already won their two previous duels, at the US Open 2019 in the quarter-finals and at the ATP Cup in 2021 during the group stages.

Matteo Berrettini played his fourth consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final, a performance that only six other active players have achieved before him: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori.

Thanks to this success, he qualified for the third Grand Slam semi-final of his career. Only Roland-Garros still resists him. He thus joins his compatriot Adriano Panatta, twice semi-finalist at Roland-Garros in 1973 and 1975 and winner in 1976 Porte d’Auteuil.

He also becomes the first Italian to reach the Australian Open semi-finals. To reach his second Major final, after that lost at Wimbledon against Novak Djokovic in 2021, Berrettini will have to overcome the mountain Nadal, qualified after his victory against the Canadian Denis Shapovalov in five sets.


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