Sinner's tenacity prevails in all-Italian duel against Berrettini, moves to Wimbledon third round"

Jannik Sinner (No. 1) defeated Matteo Berrettini (No. 59) 7-6(3), 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 to advance to the third round of Wimbledon. The 2023 semifinalist continues his journey towards his second Grand Slam title after winning the all-Italian clash against the grass-court specialist Berrettini.

Despite being the favorite as the world No. 1, the draw pitted him against one of the most credentialed unseeded players, considering Berrettini was the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2022. As expected, it was a closely contested match decided by details in favor of the 22-year-old, who completed 10 aces compared to Berrettini's 28.

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In the first set, there was little response from either player on serve. Sinner conceded only 4 points on his first serve, winning 84% of those points, while Berrettini won 70% of his first serve points. Only one break point was played throughout the set, in the 10th game in favor of Sinner, but Berrettini managed to navigate the tough moment and took the set to a tie-break, where the world No. 1 showed more solidity with 4 mini-breaks to take the set 7-6(3).

The first break came in the sixth game of the second set in favor of Berrettini, who went up 4-2 after capitalizing on the first game where Sinner showed issues with his serve. However, Berrettini couldn't maintain his level in the next game and lost his serve immediately, quickly equalizing the score again.

Sinner at 2024 French Open.

Once again, they reached a tie-break, and once again Sinner prevailed, showing his class in the most tense moments of the match. The 2024 Australian Open champion did not perform well in the third set, managing only 48% of first serves and winning only 25% of points on his second serve, making it almost impossible to compete with Berrettini, who maintained his composure on serve.

Berrettini showed he was willing to keep fighting by starting the third set with a break and then going up 2-0. A few minutes later, he secured his second break in the fifth game and with effective serving closed the set 6-2 in just 38 minutes.

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Everything indicated that Berrettini's comeback would put Sinner in trouble. In the third game of the fourth set, he took another break, the third in Sinner's last six service games. However, from there, Sinner raised his level again, broke back, and didn't allow Berrettini to mount the promised comeback.

Although Sinner squandered a match point in the 12th game, he managed to close out the match in the tie-break 7-6(4) and secured his place in the third round, where he will face world No. 52 Miomir Kecmanovic, who reached the round of 32 for the second time in his career (2022, 2024).

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