LONDON (AFP) - Top seed Matteo Berrettini says he hopes he does not sleep too well ahead of Sunday's Queen's Club tournament final after beating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-finals on Saturday (June 19).

The 25-year-old Italian has yet to drop a set on his debut at Queen's and although Australian No. 1 de Minaur gave him a good workout on grass, he had too much power for his opponent.

An early break in the first set over the fourth-seeded de Minaur and then at 4-4 in the second was sufficient to seal his place in the final of the key warm-up tournament for Wimbledon.

Berrettini - ranked ninth in the world and one of 10 Italians in the top 100 - will play Britain's Cameron Norrie, who continued his impressive season with victory over second seed Denis Shapovalov.

Norrie was too solid for the young Canadian, as he won the battle of the left-handers 7-5. 6-3 under murky London skies.

Norrie will be Berrettini's third British opponent this week. The Italian has already beaten five-time champion Andy Murray and Dan Evans on his way to the final.

"The goal of the week is to win the title," said Berrettini, after he had let out a huge roar of delight.

"There is one more step, for sure, to achieve that but to reach the final is a great achievement with the history of the tournament.

"I had to play my best to beat Alex."

Berrettini - who has been in fine form and arrived on the back of a quarter-final appearance at the French Open - has won the Serbian Open this year and reached the final of the Madrid Masters.

He grinned when asked does he usually sleep soundly on the eve of a final.

"If I sleep too well then something is off," he said.

"I have to be nervous and the adrenaline has to kick in... I just hope I will sleep enough."

Shapovalov reached the semi-finals earlier on Saturday, completing victory in his match with American Frances Tiafoe, which had been interrupted by bad light on Friday, 6-3, 6-4.

Norrie trailed by a break in the opening set but hit back superbly to set up a chance to become only the second British player to win the title in the professional era.

"I think I played very, very well today, I was extremely clutch on some of the big points," Norrie said after reaching his third ATP final of the season.

"I am so pleased to be through to the final here, I can't even describe it. It has not really sunk in yet.

"It is nice to get over the line there, and all credit to Denis, it was a tough match."