The 2021 cinch Championship winner will be determined on Sunday afternoon when the number one seed Matteo Berrettini takes on the British number two Cameron Norrie at the Queens Club for one of the ATP 500 grass court titles.
We are guaranteed a new name on the trophy with neither of these men having made it to this stage before. Berrettini has won grass court tournaments in the past while Norrie goes in search of his first one here.
Matteo Berrettini
The Italian number one deserves a lot of credit for his run this week for a number of reasons. The first of those is because it is never easy to have a successful clay court season and then immediately transfer that form to the grass. Then there is the fact that he is carrying the pressure of being the number one seed and then the longer the week has gone on conditions have gone against him but Berrettini hasn’t been stopped, or even slowed down, at any stage.
Berrettini hasn’t just come through the draw but he has done it without dropping a set which is another phenomenal achievement when you consider he has come up against decent enough players in Andy Murray, Dan Evans and Alex de Minaur. He has taken care of two British players this week and he’ll be hoping to complete the hat trick in this final. He is a warm favourite for the final but you sense that isn’t going to derail him.
Cameron Norrie
While you could see Matteo Berrettini going well on a grass court there hadn’t been a lot of evidence that the game of Cameron Norrie was as suited to it. He has shown it is though because he has come through nicely. He has already taken care of a couple of seeded players this week in Aslan Karatsev and Denis Shapovalov and now he’ll be looking to beat a third and claim the biggest title of his career to date.
Much like his opponent in this final, Norrie also had a good clay court season. Only Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev have won more matches on the ATP Tour than Norrie this term so he is in the middle of a fine year and is getting his ranking into the sort of position whereby come the majors he might not need to face the elite until the second week and that opens up a whole new dimension for his career so this is an important match for the Briton.
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Head to Head
This is the first time these two men will have met at the ATP Tour level. As I highlighted above Berrettini has won a grass court title in the past in 2019 when he won the trophy in Stuttgart. This is the first final that Norrie has played on the grass at any level but it is the third final he has reached in a little over a month so he should be familiar with the big stage by now.
Betting
Credit where it is due to Cameron Norrie for making it this far but I think he meets his match here. I’m not going to do the Briton a disservice but the only player of real note he has played this week in terms of game being suited to a grass court and who is highly ranked is Denis Shapovalov and he was backing up finishing his quarter final earlier in the day. In Matteo Berrettini he is up against a top class operator who I think will have too much for him.
Berrettini doesn’t just have a good serve, it has been an absolute cannon, regularly clocking the speed gun at 140 clicks and over. He backs it up with a seriously clean forehand and even his previous backhand weakness isn’t as pronounced as it once was. Berrettini got taken to a couple of breakers in the first round while he was making the adjustment from clay to grass but only once has he gone that deep in a set since then. I don’t think he’ll go to one here but the 2-0 score is the best bet in this final.
Tips
Back M.Berrettini to win 2-0 for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
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