[資訊] U.S. Open Highlights: Berrettini Wins 已刪文
Gaël Monfils bent over at the waist, one hand on his knee and the other resting on the handle of his racket, which supported him like a cane as he tried to catch his breath inside a stifling Arthur Ashe Stadium.
For days the weather at the United States Open had been unusually cool and dry, but humidity rolled back in on Wednesday, testing the fortitude and resolve of the3-year-old Monfilsnd his 23-year-old opponent, Matteo Berrettini, as they traded roundhouse punches for nearly four hours of exhausting tennis.
But the atmospheric conditions paled in comparison with the pressure that the two players built on their own through a captivating duel that did not end until the 24th-seeded Berrettini won the 324th point of the match.
With that, Berrettini had defeated the 13th-seeded Monfils, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5), in 3 hours 57 minutes and gained landmark victory for Italian tennis.
It was the fourth time a man from Italy had advanced to the semifinal stage of a Grand Slam singles tournament in the Open Era.
On Friday, Berrettini will play No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who had to fight to beat No. 20 Diego Schwartzman, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2, in a match that was closer than the score indicated and ended at 12:39 a.m. With his rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federerut of the U.S. Open, Nadal is now the heavy favorite to win his 19th Grand Slam title.
The last male player from Italy to reach a U.S. Open semifinal was Corrado Barazzutti, who beat Brian Gottfried in a977 quarterfinalbefore losing to Jimmy Connors. Barazzutti,ho captains the Italian Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams,at in Berrettini’s box on Wednesday, cheering, worrying, fretting, gasping and agonizing along with everyone else who saw the match — or played in it.
“I was thinking, one of the best matches I ever saw,” Berrettini said in an on-court interview. “I was playing, but I was watching also.”
Berrettini is part of a new wave of Italian male players that includes Marco Cecchinato,ho is ranked 66th in the world andade the semifinals of the French Openast year,ndorenzo Sonego, No. 49. All of them are 26 or younger, andhe 11th-ranked Fabio Fognini, 32, is playing the best tennis of his career. Each is looking to become the first Italian man to win a Grand Slam singles titleince Adriano Panatta won the French Open in 1976.
Right now Berrettini has the best chance, but he may have to rein in his nerves, which were on display when he double faulted on his first match point — at 5-3, 40-30, of the fifth set. He failed to convert on three more match points, as Monfils kept reaching deep to extend the contest to its limit.
Finally, at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, Monfils hit a return long off a 125-mile-per-hour serve, and Berrettini collapsed on the court. He then jumped up and ran to the net to shake hands with Monfils, pounding his chest as he went.
Defeated players are not known to pound their chests, but Monfils would have been justified in doing so, considering how much heart he, too, showed in the match. Instead the Frenchman slapped Berrettini’s hand at the net, and the two competitors hugged in mutual appreciation.
“What a great fight,” Berrettini said. “I have to say congrats to Gaël.”
Monfils, a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2016, has drawn attention during the tournament this year not only for his tennis, but also foris relationship with Elina Svitolina, the fifth-seeded woman. The couple practice together and have discussed how each helps the other on court. Svitolina, who will play Serena Williams in a semifinal on Thursday, watched from Monfils’s box on Wednesday, knowing better than most what he was enduring in the match.
“I’m proud of myself, and I will be happy,” Monfils said. “I will be happy to cheer for my girlfriend tomorrow. Definitely if it can be one more day here.”
Berrettini said he did not remember any specific points, except the match winner. Then he held up one hand and put his thumb and forefinger together.
“I was a little bit tight,” he said, adding sarcastically, “but you didn’t see it, I guess.”
The match featured abrupt momentum swings, and Monfils showed remarkable determination just to stay in it. After he won the first set, fatigue seemed to set in, and he spent time bent over, seeking respite between serves.
Berrettini, a 6-foot-5 bruiser, won the second and third sets with relative ease and appeared to be headed for a four-set victory, as the older player’s exhaustionecame more of a factor. But after the fourth set, the stadium roof was closed because of rain, a move that gave both players a chance to rest. They walked off court together during the break.
Berrettini seemed to be in command again in the fifth set, taking a 5-2 lead as the two parried and lunged at each other, shifting from offense to defense many times. Monfils held his serve to make it 5-3, and Berrettini got to his first match point.
His double fault was not even close, the second serve coming in slow and hitting the net. Somewhere in the back of his mind lurked the grim memory of the time six years ago that he blew 12 match points in a big junior tournament in Italy. That required three days to recover from, Berrettini said. This was not even half as bad.
But on the next point Monfils ripped a forehand winner crosscourt, and on break point, Berrettini hit a forehand into the net for an unforced error.
Monfils held at 4-5, then looked to break back in the next game. At 15-0, Berrettini’s forehand hit the net tape and bounced onto Monfils’s side of the court. Monfils, who was at the baseline and headed into the right corner, skidded to stop, then ran in and put away a crosscourt approach-shot winner.
“I gave it all today,” said Monfils, who had 17 doubles faults. “I served bad, but I gave my heart.”
Then Berrettini scrambled back and held his serve. Now with Monfils trailing, 5-6, Berrettini had two more match points, which Monfils saved again, one with tense, 17-shot rally. Monfils ultimately held his serve and sent the match to its only fitting conclusion: a tiebreaker.
It was not easy for Berrettini, of course, but at last his nerve held.
While the other three men’s semifinalists — Matteo Berrettini, Grigor Dimitrov and Daniil Medvedev — are in the final four in the New York for the first time, Nadal reached his eighth U.S. Open semifinal, with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Diego Schwartzman.
The match lasted 2 hours 47 minutes in oppressive humidity. The second-seeded Nadal needed medical treatment on both his arms during the third set. Nadal rolled to a 4-0 lead, then Schwartzman won the next four games to get back on serve. But Nadal broke him at 4-5 to take the set.
Nadal broke Schwartzman twice to take a 5-1 lead in the second set, but then Schwartzman won four straight games again. With Schwartzman serving at 5-6, Nadal broke him for the third time in the set to take it 7-5.
In the third set, Nadal built a 4-2 lead and did not let it go.
The Big Three of Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have won the last 11 men’s Grand Slam singles titles. Nadal is the only one left in the tournament who could extend the streak.
Of course a shaky start didn’t bother 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu. She was brimming with confidence gained from not losing a completed match since March.
Despite a shoulder injury that sidelined her for months, Andreescu has soared from No. 152 to No. 15 in the rankings, and now she is in her first Grand Slam semifinal.
She defeated Elise Mertens, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, on Wednesday night and will play Belinda Bencic in the semifinals on Thursday.
In her first U.S. Open, Andreescu, 19, is the first teenager to reach the semifinals of the women’s tournament since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009.
“Is this real life?” she said in her post-match interview.
Before Wednesday night, Mertens had not lost at set at the tournament in singles or doubles, a discipline in which she has reached the semifinals alongside Aryna Sabalenka. Mertens had not even lost more than three games in a set through her first nine singles sets.
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