Rafael Nadal will face Matteo Berrettini in the Australian Open semi-final on Friday for the second time in his career. The Spanish sensation has already played and defeated Berrettini in a Slam semifinal. That happened in 2019 at the US Open when Rafa beat the Italian 7-6(6) 6-4 6-1.
That was the only time that Nadal and Berrettini played against each other. Therefore, their head-to-head is 1-0 for the Spaniard. Here are the highlights and the statistics of that match.
Highlights Rafael Nadal vs. Matteo Berrettini U.S. Open – New York
Stats: aces, double faults, breaks, winners
At the end of the match, Nadal scored 111 points vs. Matteo’s 82.
Nadal
Nadal served extremely well to win 90% of the points (37/41) behind his first serve, and he won 74% points (25/34) on his second serve. Nadal won this match even if he wasn’t that great in converting his break points as he converted only 25% (4/16) of the procured opportunities.
Berrettini
On the other side, the Italian wasn’t able to conquer any break point (0/0). That was one of the key issues for his loss.
After this contest, the head to head between Nadal and Berrettini is 1-0 for Rafael.
Live score progression and stats
The set went straight to the tiebreak as there were no breaks. Finally, the Spaniard won a thrilling breaker 8-6 after a huge fight with 14 points played.
Tiebreak
Rafael won 3 minibreaks in the 6th (2-4), 11th (5-6) and 14th (8-6) point. On the other side, the Italian won 2 minibreaks in the 1st (1-0) and 4th (4-0) point.
This was the tiebreak sequence: 0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, 1-4, 2-4, 2-5, 3-5, 4-5, 4-6, 5-6, 6-6, 7-6, 8-6
Nadal was unable to convert any of the 6 conquered break points. He had 6 break points opportunities in the 2nd (1-0 40-A and 40-A), the 8th (4-3 15-40, 30-40 and 40-A) and the 10th game (5-4 30-40). Rafael saved 5 set points when he was 2-5, 3-5, 4-5, 4-6 and 5-6 down. On the other side, the Spaniard didn’t concede a single break point during this set.
They played 93 points. The Spaniard was the winner of the set after clinching 5 more points than the Italian (49-44). Nadal dropped 8 points on serve (30-8). On the other side, Matteo conceded 19 points on serve (36-19).
The set was pretty even as both players managed to hold serve with the notable exception of 1 break that the Spaniard conquered in the 7th game (4-3) before eventually winning the set (6-4).
The Spaniard converted 25% of his break points (1/4). He had 4 break points opportunities in the 1st (0-0 30-40 and 40-A), the 3rd (1-1 30-40) and the 6th game (3-3 15-40). On the other side, Nadal didn’t concede a single break point during this set.
They contested 59 points. Nadal was the winner of the set after clinching 11 points more than Matteo (35-24). Nadal was extremely solid on serve to drop just 4 points (21-4). In addition, on the other side, Matteo conceded 14 points on serve (20-14).
Nadal came out strong at the beginning of the set after breaking Matteo Berrettini in the 1st game (1-0). Nadal improved his lead after breaking Matteo in the 5th (4-1) and in the 7th (6-1) game before conquering the set.
Berrettini was dominated in the last 4 games of the set when the scoreline went from 2-1 to 6-1.
Rafael converted 50% of his break points (3/6). He had 6 break points opportunities in the 1st (0-0 40-A), the 5th (3-1 0-40, 15-40, 30-40 and 40-A) and the 7th game (5-1 30-40). On the other side, the Spaniard didn’t concede a single break point during this set.
They played 41 points. Rafael won 13 more points than the Italian (27-14). Rafael was flawless on serve to drop only 1 point during his serving games (12-1). Regarding the other side of the net, Matteo conceded 15 points on serve (13-15).
