Italy’s Matteo Berrettini has announced his intention to take on another strong challenge at Wimbledon after joining an elite group of players by retaining his ATP Queen’s Club title on Sunday. Berrettini beat Filip Krajinovic of Serbia 7-5, 6-4 in the Wimbledon warm-up final. He will now aim for a better win at Wimbledon, the only tournament of tennis’ four majors still playing on grass, after losing to Novak Djokovic in the final last year. .
Berrettini’s win means he joins John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray as the only players in the Open era to win consecutive Queens titles. .
The world No 10 has been in superb form on the pitch this season after returning from hand surgery.
Berrettini, 26, has now won two tournaments in a row, having beaten Murray in Stuttgart last weekend, and Sunday’s success was a boost in confidence just eight days before Wimbledon began.
Krajinovic, who had not won a game on the pitch before this week, was the first player in Sunday’s final to lose serve.
But the commendable world No. 48 came back to level the score 3-3.
Berrettini, however, took a 6-5 lead and then took the serve to take the first set.
Krajinovic’s chance vanished and Berettini broke through midway through the second half before ending the game with an ace.
“There’s so much emotion,” Berrettini said shortly after his latest win. “The last thing I look forward to after the surgery is two titles in a row and defending my title here. I can’t believe it.
“Every time I walk in the hallways here and see all the names of past champions, and now know it’s me, twice, on the same wall gives me goosebumps.”
Krajinovic, meanwhile, emerged on the heels of a performance that gave him hopes of improving on a woeful run at Wimbledon, where he went on four first-round losses.
“It’s been an amazing 10 days, it’s been very emotional to be in my first final on the pitch,” he said.
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“Right before this tournament, I had never won a game on grass and I hated playing on grass. But I feel now I want to play more and more.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from the syndication feed.)
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