November 23, 2024
With victory in a rematch of last year’s Davis Cup final against Australia, defending champions Italy are back in the title round thanks to contrasting singles wins for Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini on Saturday in Malaga.
The Italians advanced behind a 2-0 semi-final scoreline, with Sinner beating Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4 after Berrettini edged Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5.
Berrettini needed two hours, 39 minutes to dispatch Kokkinakis, who won a third-set tie-break against Ben Shelton of the United States in his previous outing.
The Aussie struck first after saving two set points from 4/6 in the opening tie-break, having stopped his opponent from serving out the opening set at 6-5. But Berrettini would not surrender another break in the match as he powered Italy into a 1-0 lead.
“After I lost the first set, it wasn’t easy to digest that,” said the Italian. “But I’m fighting for my country with this crowd, so I’m happy.”
That set up World No. 1 Jannik Sinner to close out the victory, and the man who earned Year-End ATP No. 1 presented by PIF honours this season delivered with a dominant display against De Minaur.
The 6-3, 6-4 scoreline was identical to the result in the pair’s Nitto ATP Finals meeting earlier this month.
“It means a lot. It was a tough encounter, playing Alex. We know each other quite well now so I have to be very careful every time,” said Sinner. “It’s a very tough challenge for me, so I was looking forward to this one.
“Obviously it helped a lot that Matteo won the singles today. He played amazing tennis, it was very high quality. Hopefully this can give us some confidence for tomorrow. It’s going to be a very difficult and tough day for us and also the Netherlands.”
Sinner will now hope he can lift the title in Malaga, just as he did in Turin when they meet final debutant the Netherlands on Sunday.
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