Matteo Berrettini became the first Italian to reach the US Open men’s semi-finals since 1977.
Berrettini, the 24th seed, also produced some enormous hitting to battle to some lung-busting 3-6 6-3 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7-5) victory in climatic states under the roof of Arthur Ashe.
The 23-year-old won an epic poem contest lasting a color under four hours later taking his fifth match point to come out on top of a roller-coaster ride of the encounter.
«Right now I do not remember any points. Only the match stage,» explained Berrettini, that lost here in the very first round this past year. «While I was playing I thought, this is one of the best matches I ever watched. I had been enjoying , but I had been watching also.»
Despite creating 64 mistakes, he served 15 aces and struck 53 champions, winning a gruelling match. Monfils left 51 unforced errors and served 17 double faults.
Berrettini will now hope to go one better than his compatriot Corrado Barazzutti, that dropped to Jimmy Connors at Forest Hills 42 decades back, when he chooses the winner of their final quarter-final between three-time champion Rafael Nadal and Diego Schwartzman of Argentina to get a location in the final.