Top seed Matteo Berrettini beats Alex de Minaur in straight sets to enter Queen’s final

London: Top seed Matteo Berrettini says he hopes he does not sleep too well ahead of Sunday’s Queen’s tournament final after beating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-finals on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Italian has yet to drop a set on his debut at Queen’s and although Australian number one De Minaur gave him a good workout he had too much power for his opponent.

An early break in the first set over the fourth-seeded De Minaur and then at 4-4 in the second was sufficient to seal his place in the final of the key warm-up tournament for Wimbledon.

“The goal of the week is to win the title,” said Berrettini after he had let out a huge roar of delight.

“There is one more step, for sure, to achieve that but to reach the final is a great achievement with the history of the tournament.

“I had to play my best to beat Alex.”

Berrettini — who has been in fine form and arrived on the back of a quarter-final appearance at the French Open — has won the Serbian Open this year and reached the final of the Madrid Masters.

He grinned when asked does he usually sleep soundly on the eve of a final.

“If I sleep too well then something is off,” he said.

“I have to be nervous and the adrenaline has to kick in… I just hope I will sleep enough.”

Berrettini — ranked nine in the world and one of 10 Italians in the top 100 — will play the winner of Canadian second seed Denis Shapovalov and Britain’s Cameron Norrie.

Shapovalov reached the semi-finals earlier on Saturday completing victory in his match with American Frances Tiafoe, which had been interrupted by bad light on Friday, 6-3, 6-4.