Casper Ruud in the semi-finals of the US Open after his victory against Matteo Berrettini – L’Équipe

Monday, the round of 16 between Andrey Rublev and Cameron Norrie was marked by the wanderings of the Briton (eliminated 6-4, 6-4, 6-4), after committing a whopping 35 unforced errors. Twenty-four hours later, it was Matteo Berrettini who almost completely missed out on his quarter-final against Casper Ruud. Off for almost an hour, led 6-1, 5-1, investigating gross faults, the Italian ended up waking up but he was going too far to reverse the trend. The Norwegian logically imposed his greatest regularity 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (4), in 2h35. He thus qualifies for his first semi-final at the US Open. Two catastrophic first sets Tired by the 3:46 of his round of 16 in five sets against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Berrettini visibly lacked energy. Head down, abandoned by his serve and his baseline game, he spent the first two sets in apnea. And was even very happy not to cash a resounding 6-1, 6-1. A less calamitous end of the second set revived him at the start of the third. Where he signed a break, taking advantage of a drop in speed from his opponent (3-0). He even served at 5-3 but a failure of first balls cut him off. More conquering, less inconstant, Ruud then took control of the decisive game. The Italian’s 39 unforced errors weighed heavily in the balance. Three months after his final at Roland-Garros (lost against Rafael Nadal), here is Ruud (7th at ATP) in the last four of a Major. He can still become world number 1 at the end of the tournament. He will face in half the winner of the match between Nick Kyrgios and Karen Khachanov.