Berrettini comes back to win against Kudla at Queen's

Matteo Berrettini was nearly beaten by Denis Kudla at the Cinch Championships in Queen's Club but the Italian rallied to win 3-6 7-6(5) 6-4.

Matteo Berrettini is through to the quarterfinal of the Queen's Club event in London after a very hard-fought win over Kudla. The defending champion needed a lot to get past a very active American who has been a good grass player for several years.

The first set was a very shaky one for Berrettini. Kudla had an early break point and it looked like the Italian will face stiff competition. He certainly did and when the American took a break later in the set it became apparent this would be very difficult. Kudla won the opening set 6-3 without facing a single break point.

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Some of that stellar play continued in the 2nd set as well but he faced much-improved play from Berrettini. The Italian forced an early break point but failed to convert it. He would have a major hold at 3-3 from 15-40 down on his serve and failed out close the 2nd set at 6-5 being up 40-15. In the tiebreak, he was finally able to secure the set 7-5 after a hard battle.

It was a superb set from Berrettini as he did not lose a single point behind his first serve. And he still barely won it. That's how good Kudla was. The final set was a thriller. Berrettini jumped out to a 3-2 lead but gave it right back 3-3. He would secure another break 5-4 and barely hold serve to finish out the match 6-4. It was a major win for Berrettini whose title defence lives on.