No. 7 Berrettini remains unbeaten on grass with 1st-round win over Pella

Queen’s Club tournament champion Matteo Berrettini remained unbeaten on grass this season by defeating Guido Pella 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the first round at Wimbledon.

The hard-serving Berrettini finished with 20 aces against Pella and clinched the win with a running forehand passing shot.

The seventh-seeded Italian became the first player to win Queen’s on his debut since Boris Becker in 1985 and is viewed as an outside contender at this year’s Wimbledon.

He reached the semifinals at the 2019 U.S. Open and is coming off a quarterfinal run at the French Open, where he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

However, Berrettini has never been past the round of 16 at the All England Club.

Former U.S. Open runner-up Kei Nishikori also advanced. He beat Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

___

More AP tennis coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports