Everything was moving quickly on Centre Court, from the serves to the scoreboard to the galloping realisation that Sunday could be quite the day for Italian men on the green bits of London.
Serving at almost 140mph, and at one stage even ripping his way to an astonishing 11 games in a row against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, Matteo Berrettini was on the hottest of hot streaks as he became the first Italian man to reach a Wimbledon final.
The Italians have been waiting 144 years for this, for one of their own to go through into a final at the All England Club. No Italian man had ever previously served as quickly or as brilliantly on the Wimbledon grass, or played with as much poise at such a big, life-defining moment, as the 25-year-old Roman in a reversed baseball cap.
When Berrettini led 6-3, 6-0 it appeared as though this meeting of first-time Wimbledon semi-finalists was going to be very lopsided. While Hurkacz took the third set in the tie-break, Berrettini broke in the opening game of the fourth set and went on to win 6-3, 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4.
"I have no words. I need a couple of hours to understand what happened. I played a great match," said Berrettini, who didn't drop serve all afternoon. "I never dreamed about this because it's too much."
A few hours before the Italian men's football team play England in the Euros final at Wembley, Berrettini will attempt on Sunday to become the first Italian man to score a Grand Slam singles title since Adriano Panatta became the Roland-Garros champion 45 years ago.
I have no words. I never dreamed about this because it's too much
One day you're the one force-feeding your opponent a 'bagel' 6-0 set on Centre Court and then in the next round you're the one having to munch on the same breadstuff.
Hurkacz had finished off his quarter-final victory over his idol Roger Federer with a 6-0 set, a match that had had a dreamlike quality. But this time the Pole was on the other end of a one-sided run. From 2-3 in the opening set, Berrettini won 11 games in a row. They hadn't even been playing for an hour when the Italian went 6-3, 6-0 up, and he would win the opening game of the third set as well.
From Queen's Club to the All England Club, Berrettini has been unbeatable on London's grass courts this summer, with this victory taking his run to 11 matches.
Supported by his Australian girlfriend Ajla Tomljanovic, herself a quarter-finalist in the ladies' singles, Berrettini could hardly have played better.
Hurkacz, who had beaten the No.2 seed, Daniil Medvedev, in the fourth round before going on to defeat Federer, had been trying to become the first Polish man to appear in a Wimbledon final. But he simply couldn't keep pace with Berrettini.
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