Berrettini Dominates Zverev at Wimbledon, Books Showdown with Alcaraz fourth round

Matteo Berrettini defeated the 19th seed Alexander Zverev and will face Carlos Alcaraz in the fourth round of the 2023 Wimbledon.

In a high-stakes match, the Italian (Berrettini) was able to counter Zverev's shots, as the German fought but couldn't match his opponent. Berrettini has gained confidence as the Wimbledon matches progress, despite coming into the tournament with little rhythm and serious doubts about his level of play.

The former world No. 5 was out for a month after retiring in the third round of Monte-Carlo and returned for the grass season, losing to Lorenzo Sonego in the first round with a resounding 6-1, 6-2 scoreline. He then withdrew from the Queen's Club Championship, arriving at SW19 without any grass court victories.

Against all odds, Berrettini continues to display the level of play that took him to the Wimbledon final in 2021, with victories over Sonego in four sets and then over the 15th seed Alex de Minaur, the recent finalist at the Queen's ATP 500.

In the first set, Berrettini capitalized on the first break point he had in the eighth game, which was enough to quickly take a 6-3 lead in just 33 minutes. With 5 winners and 7 unforced errors (compared to Zverev's 4 winners and 6 unforced errors), the Italian won 57% of the points played to take the advantage.

Both players were relentless with their serves in the following twelve games, with Zverev only conceding three points out of the 31 played with his serve. On Berrettini's side, he only gave up six out of the thirty-six services he made. This led to a tie-break, where a single error from Zverev while serving was enough for Berrettini to increase his lead.

Zverev made efforts to stay in the match, but Berrettini left little room for 'Sascha' to recover. Despite Zverev's strong performance in the third set, Berrettini's slice was effective in countering the power of Zverev's forehand, who had more unforced errors than in the previous sets, totaling eleven.

Without any clear advantages, they reached another tie-break, which was evenly matched with each player earning two mini-breaks in the first four points. After switching sides at 3-3, Zverev lost a service point after a ball that was slightly long and required a challenge to verify. Without any more breaks, Berrettini capitalized on the third match point he had to clinch the victory.

In the fourth round, he will face none other than the world No. 1, Carlos Alcaraz, who advanced after defeating Chilean Nicolas Jarry in the third round.