Italy beats Australia 2-1 to lift first title in 47 years

Italy won its first Davis Cup title since 1976 after defeating Australia in Malaga on Sunday night with a 2-1 victory.

The victory which was the country’s first triumph in 47 years was inspired by the country’s talisman and inform World No.4 Jannik Sinner in the deciding game.

Jannik Sinner who saved three match points to defeat World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Saturday’s semi-finals, converted the 1-0 lead provided by Matteo Arnaldi’s three-set win over Alexei Popyrin into a championship-clinching result with his crushing 6-3, 6-0 victory over Alex de Minaur whom he now leads 6-0 in their ATP Head2Head series.

“It has been an incredible feeling I think for all of us and obviously we are really happy,” said Sinner.

“We kept together everything and obviously yesterday we went from one point away from being out and now we can celebrate the win. I think we can all be very, very happy.”

Following the US Open, Sinner won 20 of his last 22 matches of the season, a run that included ATP 500 titles in Beijing and Vienna, and a runner-up finish in the Nitto ATP Finals to Djokovic, whom he beat in an epic three-setter in group play in Turin.

The 22-year-old Italian No.1 will now finish the year with a personal-best 64-15 record and at a year-end career-high No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Arnaldi gave Italy a 1-0 lead earlier in the day as he faced eight break points against Popyrin in the decisive set.

Popyrin squandered enough court opportunities, but in the tenth game of the championship match, the 22-year-old took advantage of his first match point and won 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in two hours and 27 minutes.

The former Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier was vindicated in Italy’s 2-1 victory over The Netherlands, however, she wasted three match points against Botic van de Zandschulp.

“I didn’t play much in the last few weeks, so I was happy after the first match even if I lost,” Arnaldi said. “Now I have won one of the most important matches in my life.”

Italian captain Filippo Volandri, who oversaw Italy’s second Davis Cup title run, said, “Really thankful to have these guys. Really proud to have these guys. You’ve been here for all these two years and I really have to say thanks to the crowds, to Italy, for all the support they gave us. We had to manage with a lot of emergencies in these two years, but we did it and we did it like a family.”