Matteo Berrettini, also known as 'The Hammer', defeated Richard Gasquet in the first semifinal match of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown.

After Matteo Berrettini finished 3rd at Thiem's 7 in Kitzbuhel, he traveled back to France to play the Final Four of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown. His semifinal opponent was Richard Gasquet, who lost only two matches during 5 weekends of the UTS.

The only two players that defeated the experienced Frenchman were the leader of the tournament, Stefanos Tsitipsas, and his semifinal opponent, Matteo Berrettini. The Italian was really dominant in their first meeting at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown when he won 4-0.

This time, Berrettini was dominant again. He won the first quarter easily, 24-8. During the quarter, he successfully used his winner count x3 card and got 6 points from two rallies. In the second quarter, the Italian was leading again, but this time it was his opponent who used the winners count x3 card successfully and hit an ace to cut Berrettini's lead.

However, Berrettini saved his winners count x3 card until the last 90 seconds of the quarter. But this time he didn't manage to hit any winner and even though he leveled the score to 12-12, Gasquet won the next two rallies to win the second quarter 14-12.

In the third quarter, special cards played a big role again. The score was 5-5 when Berrettini used his winners count x3 card. He hit two aces to get an 11-5 lead which he didn't lose later in the quarter to win it 16-12 and get the lead in the match again.

Similarly to the second quarter, 'The Hammer' was not that successful with his winners count x3 card than in the other two. The score was leveled at 10-10 and Berrettini's coach called for the first coaching timeout of this match. However, this didn't end up being a great move as the Italian lost the following 3 points to lose the quarter 10-13.

The first semifinal match was therefore decided in the sudden death. The first player to win two points in a row wins the match and books his spot in the final. After Gasquet won the first point, his opponent managed to win the following two to win the match 24-8, 12-14, 16-12, 10-13, 2-1. Berrettini will meet Stefanos Tsitsipas or David Goffin in the final.

Find today's schedule of play here. You can follow the entire competition on TennisUpToDate Live Scores which you can find at this link. All information about the Ultimate Tennis Showdown can be found here.

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