Berrettini calls time on Wawrinka’s Wimbledon career with gripping 4-hour win

London, July 1 (IANS) Stan Wawrinka waved farewell to Wimbledon after Matteo Berrettini inched past the three-time Grand Slam winner 6-7 (7), 7-6(16), 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5) across four thrilling sets.

Former world No. 3 Wawrinka, who is retiring at the end of the season, put on a show for those in attendance, but Berrettini proved too formidable an opponent after four hours, 19 minutes of battle.

At the age of 41 and 106 days, Wawrinka was the oldest man in the draw. This was his 19th Wimbledon campaign and his last. In his final season on the Tour, he is saying goodbye to his favourite places

“Tonight, again was a great fight,” emotional Wawrinka said. “It’s never easy to say goodbye to something that you love so much. I’ve always been passionate about the game, always enjoyed that. I’m grateful, and I would like to thank everybody because I had the chance, this opportunity to play one last time here. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better goodbye.

“I don’t want to retire but I know it’s time for me to stop. One of the reasons why I kept playing for so long is to enjoy those moments like tonight. It’s so much emotion. I’m so grateful to have this opportunity, to have received the wild card to have the chance to play one last time Wimbledon,” he added.

In the era of the greats, of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic, he claimed three Grand Slam titles: the Australian Open in 2014, Roland-Garros in 2015 and the US Open in 2016.

When the first two sets headed into a tie-break, a caption appeared in the corner of the TV screen with the gamely informative line “seven-point tie-break” (to distinguish it from the 10-point match tie-break in the final set). The first set was decided 9-7 in Wawrinka’s favour and the second went to Berrettini 18-16.

The caption reappeared: “Seven-point tie-break”. Berrettini won it 9-7 thanks to a Wawrinka double fault. The roof was then closed on No. 1 Court. After two-and-a-half sets, Wawrinka had not had so much as a glimpse of a break point.

And then, with the match clock ticking towards three hours, Berrettini broke the Wawrinka serve. It was only the fourth break point of the match but it had gone the Italian’s way. The caption reappeared: “Seven-point tie-break”. Berrettini won it 9-7 thanks to a Wawrinka double fault. Another tie-break, another caption. This time, Berrettini closed it out 7-5. After four hours and 20 minutes of battle, Wawrinka’s Wimbledon days were over.

“He’s a legend and he showed it… Unbelievable player, unbelievable competitor. I remember in 2014, I was playing the juniors here and I snuck into Centre Court, he was playing against Roger Federer. It was a big honour to play against him here, on Court 1. I feel so honoured, so grateful,” Berrettini said of Wawrinka.

Berrettini, who is competing for the first time since his resurgent run to the Roland Garros quarter-finals, won 86 per cent of first-serve points against Wawrinka in a tight battle. After moving to 1-0 in his ATP Head-to-Head series with Wawrinka, the 30-year-old Italian set a second-round clash with the exciting 22-year-old Arthur Fils.

–IANS

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