Matteo Berrettini keeps winning as the Italian is now up to seven matches in a row after beating Alejandro Tabilo at the 2024 Kitzbuhel Open to advance to the quarter-finals.
Berrettini won't be playing at the upcoming Paris Olympics due to not making the cut rankings-wise, and it's a shame because he has been playing some smashing tennis in recent weeks.
Part of that might be because most of the top players are already in Paris getting ready for the Olympic event but the Italian is playing superb tennis right now. Weaker draws or not.
He was in action last week in Gstaad, where he won the tournament for the second time in his career by absolutely dominating five opponents in the span of a week.
He has been keeping the level high this week at the ATP 250 event in Kitzbuhel as he won two matches now to find himself in yet another quarter-final.
The fact that he has been dominating at these two events is not by chance because they're both events played at high altitude, which plays great for Berrettini. He's been a standout performer in Madrid in the past, and that's another high-altitude event.
The thinner air just allows his serve to dominate, similar to how he does on grass, and his forehand can be just unplayable. This match was another demonstration where Berrettini had a really solid opponent on the opposite side of the net, but he still couldn't be touched.
The first set went to a tie-break, which is not unusual in his matches, as his first-round match in the Austrian city featured two tie-breaks. Berrettini couldn't be touched on his serve as he dominated without allowing a single break point.
Neither player allowed a single break point in the match, as they both won over 80% of the points behind the first serve. Berrettini hit it more often, which is why he could easily win the tiebreak 7-4.
Both players mirrored each other in the second set. The Chilean lost his rhythm a little bit. It was not a huge surprise, especially after he dropped the opening set, but it made the job much easier for the Italian.
Berrettini didn't serve as well in the opening set but still largely dominated behind his first serve. Tabilo, for the most part, played well but still couldn't keep the Italian from chances.
Eventually, Berrettini converted his sixth break point to take a 4-2 lead, which became a 5-2 lead after a comfortable hold. It seemed like the end of the match was near, but it didn't happen because he was broken in the game when he served for the match.
Fans in Kitzbuhel saw crazy scenes, but Tabilo was able to force yet another tie-break. Berrettini was still able to close out the match in the tie-break to win it 7-6(4), 7-6(5), which is now the second match in a row he's won in a double tie-break finish.
It could have been easier, but he escaped in two sets. Berrettini finished with 15 aces and 31 winners. He also had only 13 unforced errors thanks to hitting 81% of his first serve, after which he won 79% of those points.