Matteo Berrettini served up a Sunday sporting double for Italy by setting up a Wimbledon final with Novak Djokovic – after overpowering Hubert Hurkacz in four sets.
The 25-year-old from Rome became the first Italian man to reach the SW19 showpiece after a 6-3 6-0 6-7 (3) 6-4 victory.
The main course may be England’s date with Italy in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday evening, but Berrettini will provide a tasty antipasti when he walks out on Centre Court at 2pm.
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Certainly David Beckham, watching from the royal box, will be desperate not to sit through a similar exhibition of Italian domination at Wembley in two days’ time.
Hurkacz was the man who broke many a heart at Wimbledon on Wednesday when he knocked out eight-time champion Roger Federer, having previously accounted for second seed Daniil Medvedev.
But the Polish 14th seed was simply blown away over the first two sets as he faced the non-stop barrage that is the Berrettini serve.
It will be a first grand slam final for Berrettini, who said: “I have no words, really.
“I need a couple of hours to understand what happened. I played a great match, I enjoyed the crowd and I’m really happy. I never dreamed about this because it’s too much for a dream.
“It’s the best tennis day of my life. Hopefully Sunday will be even better!”
Djokovic will be chasing a third straight title on Sunday fighting off the challenge of young Canadian Denis Shapovalov. The 22-year-old, playing in his first grand slam semi-final, was the better player for most of the first two sets but could not convert his chances and fell to a 7-6 (3) 7-5 7-5 defeat.
Djokovic has yet to hit top gear this fortnight but he has only dropped one set - his first match of the tournament against British teenager Jack Draper - and is now one win away from equalling Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s record of 20 slam titles and completing three quarters of a calendar Grand Slam.
Standing in his way will be Berrettini, but this was an object lesson in why Djokovic has been the dominant player of the decade.