Matteo Berrettini retained his Cinch Championships title with a 7-5 6-4 win over Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic on Sunday.
The Italian had too much firepower for unseeded Krajinovic, who lost his fifth final at the Tour level.
The world no. 10 was made to work hard by Krajinovic in the first set, trading breaks with his opponent only before sealing a decisive break at 5-all.
A superb angled volley gave Berrettini the break he had threatened in the fifth game of the opening set but Krajinovic replied in the next game to get back on level terms.
Krajinovic then succumbed to the pressure, double-faulting at 2-3 in the second set as Berrettini secured the decisive break of serve and went on to secure his seventh career title with an ace.
With his win, Matteo Berrettini became the eighth player to win back-to-back Cinch Championships titles, all of the others being former world number one including John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker, and Andy Murray.
He will now go into Wimbledon as one of the favorites to win the whole thing as the Italian has now won 20 of his last 21 matches on the grass with his only loss coming in last year’s Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic.
With Russian and Belarusian players banned from the event, this might be the perfect opportunity for players like Berrettini to win a grand slam.
