Great time for Greek tennis and her new “star”. Rafael Pagonis, 13, managed to qualify for the Wimbledon final and turn the … lights on him.
Rafael Pagonis prevailed with 4-6, 6-2, 10-5 of 14-year-old Russian Nikita Berdin (No. 20 in Europe) and on Sunday (13.07.2025) he will claim Wimbledon’s trophy against Austrian, Moric Fraitag.
In the course of the semifinals, the Greek tennis player, who heads the U14 European Ranking (closes 14 next December), won all three matches he fought in the first phase of the Wimbledon U14 and qualified as the first by the 1st group in the semifinals.
Nikita Berdin reached 3-0 and 4-1 in the games of the first set, but Raphael Pagonis counterattacked and brought it to 4-4. With his new break, however, the 14-year-old Russian again took the lead to close the first set with 6-4 after 38 minutes.
The 13-year-old Greek tennis player entered the second set loudly and with two breaks reached 4-0 in games. Nikita Berdin broke Rafael Pagonis’ series, reaching 4-2, but the Greek athlete responded with a break and reached 1-1 in the set (6-2 did it in 34 minutes).
Thus, the match was judged in the 10-point tie break, with Raphael Pagonis 10-5 and taking the semifinals.