Queen's: Cameron Norrie loses final to Matteo Berrettini
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Queen's 2021: Matteo Berrettini beats GB's Cameron Norrie in Queen's Club final
Cameron Norrie's hopes of winning his first ATP Tour title were ended as he lost 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 to Italian top seed Matteo Berrettini at Queen's Club.
The British number two fought back after losing the first set to become the first player to take a set off Berrettini at the Cinch Championships.
But world number nine Berrettini, who fired down 19 aces, secured the crucial break in the third set to seal victory.
He is the first player to win the title on debut since Boris Becker in 1985.
'It has been a very special week' - Norrie
Norrie has had the best season of his career and beaten 15 players ranked above him
Norrie, 25, was bidding to become only the second Briton after Andy Murray to win the Queen's title in the Open era.
The left-hander had never won a match at Queen's before this year but made a big breakthrough by reaching his first grass-court final.
Norrie has won 29 singles matches and reached three finals this year, and will move up to 34 in the world rankings, which, because of the absence of Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic, should be enough to earn him a seeding at Wimbledon.
"All credit to Matteo, he was too good today and better on the big points," he said.
"If you had told me before the tournament I would be in the final I would have been surprised.
"It has been a very special week. I am a little bit disappointed I did not get the title today but we will keep pushing for more."
He returned later with Australian partner Alex de Minaur to try to win the doubles title but they lost their semi-final 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 to American Reilly Opelka and Australian John Peers.
Berrettini, who beat Murray and Dan Evans to reach the final, becomes the first Italian to win the Queen's title - the fifth of his career - and he will seek to emulate Becker by going on to lift the Wimbledon title.
"It's been an unbelievable week and to think of Boris Becker's name and my name together is crazy," said Berrettini. "I have been watching this tournament since I was a kid and it is a dream come true to win it.
"Cam is a great player and this year he has shown how he can play on all the surfaces. He's had a great week and I am sure he will win a title soon."
Meanwhile, Britain's Gordon Reid won the wheelchair final with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Argentine top seed Gustavo Fernandez.
Queen's 2021: Gordon Reid wins wheelchair singles title
Berrettini's ruthless serving helps Italian to title
The South Africa-born Norrie started well by holding his serve to love but lost it in the fifth game when he served two double faults.
Berrettini followed that with a ruthless service game featuring three thunderous aces around the 138mph mark.
The 6ft 5in top seed continued to fire down unreturnable serves to take the first set and although Norrie was having success in the rallies, he could not get enough balls back into play to break Berrettini's serve.
The Italian went on the attack in the ninth game of the second set but Norrie saved two break points on his way to a gutsy hold of serve.
Norrie, now with a spring in his step and well supported by the home crowd, started to get into a few more rallies and took Berrettini to a tie-break.
Two Berrettini mistakes gave Norrie the advantage in the tie-break and although the Italian saved two set points, the Briton clinched it on the third attempt to a big roar.
Norrie faced two break points in the sixth game of the deciding set but responded superbly by winning four points in a row.
However, Berrettini kept up the pressure in Norrie's next service game and won five points from 40-0 down to secure the break.
All he then needed was to hold serve one final time - and the 46th in a row - to secure the victory.
Elsewhere, Ugo Humbert of France beat Russian world number seven Andrey Rublev 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to win the Halle title.
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