The 25-year-old took two hours and 36 minutes to get past the 14th seeded Hurkacz on Centre Court and reach the men’s singles championship match on Sunday – the same day Italy plays in the 2020 European Championship football final a few miles up the road at the Wembley Stadium here against England.

“I have no words,” Berrettini said in his on-court interview after the semi-final fixture. “I need, I think, couple of hours to understand what happened. I just know that I played a great match. I am really happy. I am really glad to be here. I think that I never dreamed about this because it was too much for a dream,” added Berrettini.

Berrettini’s success in the past fortnight has not been entirely out of the blue as he arrived at the All England Club after winning his fifth tour-level title at Queen’s. He was the first player to win the Wimbledon warm-up event on his debut appearance since Boris Becker in 1985 and remains on course to match the German’s feat of completing the Queen’s Club-Wimbledon double in the same year.

Friday’s victory also made Berrettini the first Italian man to reach a Grand Slam final since Adriano Panatta won the Roland Garros title in 1976.

Results:Men’s singles: Matteo Berrettini beat Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4