NEW YORK: Matteo Berrettini of Italy advanced to his first Grand Slam quarter-final by beating Russia’s Andrey Rublev 6-1 6-4 7-6(6) at the US Open on Monday.
Berrettini, seeded 24th, made use of his big forehand throughout the match, hitting 17 forehand winners on the Louis Armstrong Stadium court.
“My weapons were really good today,” said Berrettini who hit a total of 37 winners. “I was mixing up my tennis.”
The 43rd-ranked Rublev, with wins against Swiss pair Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka in Cincinnati last month, went into Monday’s match as the slight favourite.
But the Russian struggled with his first serve through most of the match, managing to get only 56% of first serves in and losing 67% of those he landed.
Berrettini faces the winner of Monday’s later match between France’s 13th seed Gael Monfils and Pablo Andujar of Spain.