Wimbledon 2021: Matteo Berrettini vs Guido Pella preview, head-to-head & prediction

Match details

Fixture: (7) Matteo Berrettini vs Guido Pella

Date: 29 June 2021

Tournament: The Championships, Wimbledon

Round: First round (Round of 128)

Venue: London, Great Britain

Category: Grand Slam

Surface: Grass

Prize money: £17,066,000

Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - BBC TV & Radio | India - Star Sports / Disney+ Hotstar VIP

Matteo Berrettini vs Guido Pella preview

Daniil Medvedev has become a household name following his remarkable success on hardcourt, while Stefanos Tsitsipas is the man to beat on clay.

Alexander Zverev broke through on both surfaces at a very young age and so did Andrey Rublev more recently. But with little experience under their belt, the cream of the Next Gen has found it difficult to hone their skills on grass.

Matteo Berrettini, however, is an exception.

Back in 2019, the young Italian was steadily climbing up the rankings. He was the 30th best player in the world when he entered the grass swing. Having played only five matches on the surface prior to that, Berrettini won the tournament at Stuttgart, reached the semifinals at Halle, and the Round of 16 at Wimbledon, where he was bested by Roger Federer.

Fast forward two years and the 25-year-old is ranked ninth in the world and seventh in the Race to Turin.

Given the nature of his game, clay should have been his least favored surface. However, that's not been the case. Following his title-winning run at Belgrade, where he beat Aslan Karatsev in the final, Berrettini only lost to the best players on the dirt - Zverev at Madrid, Tsitsipas at Rome and Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros.

The Italian is unarguably operating at a far higher level than he ever has before and is now back on his favored turf.

If there were questions surrounding his ability to transition from clay to grass, Berrettini emphatically answered them by winning the title at Queen's Club last week, dropping just one set en route - to Cameron Norrie in the final.

Understandably, he enters this Wimbledon as one of the favorites for the title.

Guido Pella

Berrettini's first-round opponent in London, Guido Pella, could not have had a worse season. The Argentine is 3-12 for the year and hasn't won more than one match in any of the tournaments he has played.

His three victories have come against Yoshihito Nishioka in the ATP Cup, Egor Gerasimov in Munich and Daniel Elahi Galan at Roland Garros.

That said, the Argentine is no slouch on grass. In 2018, Pella famously came back from two-sets-to-love down to beat Marin Cilic in the second round at Wimbledon. In 2019, he took out Kevin Anderson in the third round and followed that up by overcoming a two-set deficit to beat Milos Raonic. His dream run was finally ended by Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarterfinals.

The 31-year-old has recorded eight career victories on grass - six of which have come at Wimbledon. A slayer of giants, he will be up against nothing less in his opening-round encounter this year.

Matteo Berrettini vs Guido Pella head-to-head

Matteo Berrettini and Guido Pella have never met on the main tour. Their career head-to-head record stands at 0-0 ahead of their clash at Wimbledon 2021.

Matteo Berrettini vs Guido Pella prediction

Guido Pella has built up a reputation for taking out some of the pre-tournament favorites at Wimbledon over the last few years. However, he recorded those feats in seasons in which he enjoyed a lot more success -- he won 25 matches in 2018 at a win-rate of 53% and 36 in 2019 at a rate of 59%.

Given the Argentine's winning record this season (20%), Matteo Berrettini is probably too big a giant to take down, or even take a set off.

Expect the Italian to defend efficiently with his slice backhand and dominate with his serve and forehand.

Prediction: Matteo Berrettini to win in straight sets.