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Matteo Berrettini will face Felix Auger-Aliassime in Gstaad for a spot in the 2024 Swiss Open semi-final.

The Italian has wonderful memories of Gstaad, and it’s not only because the scenery is picturesque. He won his maiden ATP trophy at the event back in 2018, which is something most players never forget.

Berrettini has since added a few more, including one at the Marrakech Open earlier this year, but he’s also hoping to add another Swiss Open title to his trophy cabinet, as the event conditions play really well for him.

Gstaad is located quite high at 1,050 meters (3,444 feet), where the air is thinner and the ball flies quicker. That works well for good serves such as Berrettini, who has had great success in similar conditions in Madrid.

It will also benefit his opponent, Auger-Aliassime, who can serve exceptionally well, but he’s not as consistent with it as his upcoming opponent can be. Overall, it should be an interesting matchup between two players who know each other extremely well.

Not only have they played a few times before, but they even have personal life connections, as they spent a lot of time off the courts a couple of years back when Berrettini dated Ajla Tomljanovic, the cousin of Auger-Aliassime’s girlfriend.

One of those couples broke up since then, but perhaps it adds a bit of fire to what will be a very competitive match regardless, at the end of the day, a semi-final is at stake.

Head-to-head:

The two have played six times so far, and four of those meetings were very competitive matches, while two were played at the Laver Cup. They’re technically competitive matches as well, but they don’t yield any ATP points or significant prize money, so the motivation can be questionable there.

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Berrettini leads the matchup 4-2, but there are some interesting trends to observe. The Italian won both Laver Cup matches in three sets, and those were played indoors.

He also won both matches on grass, which shouldn’t be a huge surprise, as he’s one of the best players of this generation when it comes to the green, low-bouncing surface. Auger-Aliassime won the two other matches, which were outdoor hard-court matches, but both were played in Cincinnati.

That’s a quick court, which benefits serve, so that’s a thing to remember for this matchup. They never played on clay, even though the court in Gstaad is a very unique clay court.

Prediction:

Overall, Berrettini should have the upper hand simply because he’s traditionally seen as the better player on clay. He’s got some notable results, and he won in the Swiss city before.

Auger-Aliassime won two trophies in Switzerland, but those tournaments were played indoors in Basel. He’s been inconsistent on clay overall, but his best outing on the surface came in Madrid this year, which has similar conditions to those in Gstaad.

It will be a very close match, possibly even decided in three sets, with the player who serves better likely to win.

Prediction: Matteo Berrettini to win in three sets.