‘History Makers’ Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini’s feats at the 2022 Australian Open end Italy’s wait of 49 years


‘History Makers’ Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini’s feats at the 2022 Australian Open end Italy’s wait of 49 years

Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner

World No. 7 Matteo Berrettini and World No. 10 Jannik Sinner are two of the biggest players on the Tour currently and they are just getting started. The two Italians are certainly the flag bearers of tennis in the country and have made Italy one of the only two countries to feature two players in the ATP Top-10 rankings along with Russia who has Daniil Medvedev (World No. 2) and Andrey Rublev (World No. 5)

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With both players currently at the 2022 Australian Open, hopes are being pinned on them to win Italy its first male Grand Slam champion since Adriano Pinatta won the 1976 French Open. Matteo came close to ending the wait but lost in the finals of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships to defending champion Novak Djokovic who went on to win his 20th Grand Slam title.

Berrettini is into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open having defeated Americans Brandon Nakashima and Stefan Kozlov in 4-sets and then survived a 5-set thriller against Carlos Alcaraz before shooting down Pablo Carreno Busta in straight-sets to enter the last-8 of the Slam for the first time in his career.

Sinner also followed in the footsteps of his compatriot and is into the quarter-finals having beaten Joao Sousa and Steve Johnson in straight-sets, Taro Daniel in 4-sets and then defeated home favourite Alex de Minaur in straight-sets to end the Australian challenge at the Slam this year and reach his first Australian Open quarter-final as well.

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Sinner’s victory over de Minaur ended Italy’s wait of 49 years to have two Italians in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam with the pair of Adriano Panatta and Paolo Bertolucci at the 1973 French Open to achieve the feat. This also makes Sinner and Berrettini the 5th Italian pair to accomplish this.

Big battles ahead for Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner

Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner
Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner

Berrettini will now take on 17th seeded French veteran Gael Monfils who has been in absolutely sensational form this week in Melbourne Park. The 35-year old has knocked out youngsters in all 4 rounds and comes into the last-8 with 4-set wins in all of his matches during the first week of the Grand Slam.

Sinner however will have to wait to know who will he take on in the next round as he will play the winner between the match of 4th seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas and 20th seeded Taylor Fritz who will battle it out in the evening session on the Rod Laver Arena.

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