Dominant Matteo Berrettini wins second straight Queen’s title

London — Italian Matteo Berrettini retained his title at the Queen’s Club Championships with a 7-5 6-4 defeat of Serbia's Filip Krajinovic on Sunday, as the world No 10 gave himself the perfect launch pad into Wimbledon.

Berrettini had too much firepower for unseeded Krajinovic, who has now lost all five of his Tour-level finals.

The Italian, who also claimed the title in Stuttgart recently, has now won 20 of his last 21 matches on grass, his only loss coming in 2021’s Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic.

He was made to work hard by Krajinovic, who broke back in the first set, only to get broken again at 5-5.

A Krajinovic double-fault proved costly at 2-3 in the second set as Berrettini secured the decisive break of serve and went on to secure his seventh career title with an ace.

Berrettini, who had surgery on his right hand in March, is the eighth player to win back-to-back titles at the event, all of the others being former world No 1s including John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker and Andy Murray.

He will now go into Wimbledon as one of the favourites.

“There are too many emotions,” Berrettini said. “To have this trophy twice, I used to just dream of playing in this tournament. It was a really good week for me, I came here with a lot of confidence. Today was the best match that I played.

“I’ve worked so hard for this. I know that Wimbledon is different but I know that I can do it, I did it once. I’m really looking forward to it, but I know every match will be tough.”

A superb angled volley gave Berrettini the break he had threatened in the fifth game of the opening set.

But Krajinovic, who before this week had never won a match on grass, replied in the next game with a punchy volley to get back on level terms.

The Serbian netted a backhand to drop serve at 5-5, however, and Berrettini then held to take the opener.

In the second set, Berrettini showed the range of his game, mixing power with panache to pull ahead, and once he broke serve to love in the fifth game, there was no looking back. 

Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz showed his Wimbledon credentials on Sunday, hammering world No 1 Daniil Medvedev 6-1 6-4 to win the ATP 500 grass court tournament in Halle, Germany.

World No 12 Hurkacz defeated Medvedev and Roger Federer en route to the semifinals at Wimbledon 2021 and showed he will once again be a force to reckon with when the Championships kick off on June 27.

Halle is the 25-year-old Pole’s fifth ATP singles title, and he kept his record in finals so far unblemished with his victory in just over an hour when he converted his second match point with a backhand volley.

In contrast, it was a fifth straight defeat in a championship match for Medvedev, who has not won a title since denying Djokovic the calendar Grand Slam to win the 2021 US Open for his maiden major triumph.

Medvedev, who will not be allowed to compete at Wimbledon due to its ban on Russian and Belarusian players, came into Sunday's match having not dropped a set while saving 22 of the 23 breakpoints he faced during his four matches.

But the Russian struggled to get his first serves in as Hurkacz jumped into a 5-0 lead in no time with two breaks of his opponent's delivery.

Medvedev finally held his serve at 1-5 before Hurkacz wrapped up the opening set in 27 minutes.

There was, however, no end to Medvedev's frustrations in the second set as the Pole once again broke serve early, continuing to dominate the rallies both from the back of the court and when he advanced to the net.

Medvedev saved two breakpoints to hold serve in the seventh game to stay close to Hurkacz, but he could not get the break back against his opponent, who did not allow the Russian a single opportunity on his own delivery during the entire match. 

Reuters