By Sudipto Ganguly
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Seventh seed Matteo Berrettini found a higher gear in the face of a heroic fightback from France’s Gael Monfils to script a 6-4 6-4 3-6 3-6 6-2 win on Tuesday and become the first Italian man to reach the Australian Open semi-finals.
The 25-year-old, who reached last year’s final at Wimbledon, will take on 20-times major winner Rafa Nadal of Spain for a place in Sunday’s final at the Rod Laver Arena.
Berrettini seemed to be cruising to his third straight win over the flamboyant Frenchman when he won the first two sets but the 35-year-old former world number six forced a deciding set at the floodlit Rod Laver Arena.
After an intense battle of three hours and 49 minutes and the clock closing in on 1 am local time, the 25-year-old Italian sealed the contest on his third match point when Monfils found the net on a forehand return.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Christian Radnedge)
