cinch Championships 2021: Berrettini beats brave Norrie in three sets to win title
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Matteo Berrettini won the cinch Championships singles title on his debut at The Queen’s Club after a thrilling final against Britain’s Cam Norrie.
Berrettini won 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to lift the fifth trophy of his ATP career, the most prestigious, and according to the man himself, the most special.
“It’s the biggest trophy, and I’m sorry to the others, but the nicest one as well,” he said.
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Berrettini continued where he left off in every other round, slamming down aces and swiping forehand winners as Norrie struggled to get going and to deal with the pace of his opponent’s shots.
But Norrie, who was trying to become the only other British man apart from Andy Murray to win the cinch Championships in the last 83 years, dug in. He got a read on Berrettini’s shots, held his serve to force a second set tie-break, and then struck. The crowd erupted, and Berrettini was left to pick himself up having lost his first set of the week.
The Italian steeled himself in the decider and upped the pace even more to eventually break through and win the title.
“Today I had to play my best tennis,” said Berrettini. “Especially in the important moments because Cameron played a great match. He's really tricky. He's lefty. He made me work a lot. I'm really happy with my performance overall.”
Norrie was disappointed with how he began the match, but had no complaints.
“Overall I’m really pleased with how I played. He was just too good in the end,” said Norrie. “I had a couple of lapses in concentration and that was it. He served great.
“Especially looking at the stats, it was racquet-out-of-the-hand kind of stuff. But I’m happy to make the final and with the way I’m playing.”
In the doubles final, Pierre Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut won a third title with a three-set win over Reilly Opelka and John Peers.
Herbert and Mahut looked to have the match sewn up when they broke in the second set, but they had to withstand a nervy few minutes having been broken back. They were too good in the end though, and added the cinch Championships to their recent French Open title.
In the Wheelchair Championships, Gordon Reid won the title with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Gustavo Fernandez, and Joachim Gerard and Stefan Olsson won the doubles title, defeating Fernandez and Tom Egberink 1-6, 7-6(4), 10-6.
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