Berrettini back in Stuttgart final; Will he defeat Draper for the title?

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/matteo-berrettini/bk40/overview'Matteo Berrettini/a is back in a big way./p

pIn his first tournament since Monte-Carlo in April, the former No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings is into the Stuttgart final. The Italian defeated countryman a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/lorenzo-musetti/m0ej/overview'Lorenzo Musetti/a 6-4, 6-0 Saturday to reach the championship match of the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/stuttgart/321/overview'BOSS OPEN/a./p

pldquo;When you win like this, it's better,rdquo; Berrettini said of his 66-minute victory. ldquo;You just burn less energy. I think I played enough during the week. So today, it was really good to play an hour and six minutes.rdquo;/p

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p lang="en" dir="ltr"The final is set in Stuttgart ????a href="https://twitter.com/boss__open?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@boss__open/a | a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BOSSOPEN?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#BOSSOPEN/a a href="https://t.co/a1glBOt4um"pic.twitter.com/a1glBOt4um/a/p

mdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1801969873377017968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"June 15, 2024/a/blockquote

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pBerrettini has thrived on grass throughout his career. The 2021 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a finalist has triumphed in Stuttgart twice before and is one win from claiming a hat-trick of crowns at the German ATP 250./p

pThere were razor-thin margins in the first set. Musetti actually earned more break points in the opener (4-2), but did not convert any of his chances. Berrettini faced a 0/40 deficit when he served for the set at 5-4, but powered through to move within one set of victory./p

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pMusetti then gifted him a break to begin the second set when he missed a high backhand volley. Berrettini surged to the finish line from there, converting four of his seven break points to triumph according to Infosys ATP Stats./p

pldquo;Obviously, it's never easy when you play against a good friend like Lorenzo. We know each other pretty well,rdquo; Berrettini said. ldquo;Especially at the beginning, I think you could see there was a little bit of tension. But I was able to hold my nerves, especially when I served for the first set. And then after that I was feeling better and better and happy for the win.rdquo;/p

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pHis next opponent, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jack-draper/d0co/overview'Jack Draper/a, will already become the new British No. 1 on Monday. Will he also enter the new week as a first-time ATP Tour champion?/p

pThe lefty is one win from earning his maiden trophy after cruising past 2022 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/next-gen-atp-finals/7696/overview'Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF/a titlist a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/brandon-nakashima/n0ae/overview'Brandon Nakashima/a 6-3, 6-3 in 72 minutes./p

pThe 22-year-old hit 13 aces and won 94 per cent of his first-serve points (31/33). He did not face a break point in the match./p

pDraper and former World No. 1 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andy-murray/mc10/overview'Andy Murray/a are the only British finalists in event history. At 22 years and five months, the lefty is set to become the youngest British No. 1 since Murray in November 2009./p

p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p