Jannik Sinner, Matteo Berrettini lead Italy back to Davis Cup final | ATP Tour

Davis Cup Finals

Offender, Berrettini brings Italy back to the Davis Cup final

Italy is bidding to retain the title

November 23, 2024

Fresh off last year’s Davis Cup final win against Australia, defending champions Italy returned to the title round thanks to lopsided victories by Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini on Saturday in Malaga. The Italians advanced after the semi-final 2-0, with Sinner defeating Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4 after Berrettini knocked out Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5.

Berrettini needed two hours, 39 minutes to dispatch Kokkinakis, who won a third-set break against Ben Shelton of the United States in his previous outing. The Aussie struck first after saving two points at 4/6 in the first break, holding her opponent to the opening game at 6-5. But Berrettini would not give another break in this game as he put Italy ahead 1-0.

“After I lost the first set, it was not easy to digest that,” said the Italian player. “But I’m fighting for my country and this crowd, so I’m happy.”

At 5-5 in the third set, Berrettini hit a forehand from deep behind the baseline that swung wide for the winner. A beautiful, driven piece left Kokkinakis stunned and sparked a run of six straight points from 15/0 to put Berrettini on the brink of victory.

“Some points sometimes just change the game, the momentum,” he said of his magic moment. “I think it comes from years and years of playing with clay, using our hands a lot. And maybe a little bit of genetics from my parents – I’ll give them credit.

“It’s all about strength, how you deal with difficult times. But I got a break too [was able to] finish.”

Matteo Berrettini OUT OF THIS WORLD 🤯🌍#DavisCup | @MattBerrettini | @federtennis pic.twitter.com/zL2iDbtYkG

– Davis Cup (@DavisCup) November 23, 2024

That stopped World No. 1 Jannik Sinner to seal the win, and the man who won the ATP No. 1 of the End of the Year presented by the PIF honors this season presented with a great show for De Minaur. The 6-3, 6-4 result was similar to the result of the pair’s Nitto ATP Finals meeting earlier this month. Sosoni will hope that he can still lift the title in Malaga as he did in Turin.

“It means a lot. It was a tough match, I’m playing with Alex. We know each other very well now so I have to be careful all the time,” said Sinner after going 9-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. “It’s a very difficult 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. I hope this can give us confidence tomorrow. It will be a very difficult and difficult day for us and for the Netherlands. .”

Sinner started where Berrettini left off by winning the first two games against De Minaur, but the Aussie responded to level the set at 2-2. But after converting his first break point, the Aussie would not create another in the one-hour, 28-minute match.

Sinner grabbed a 5-2 lead, fighting back with deuce to secure his second break. No break points were awarded in the two sets until Sinner recorded three in the ninth game. He did well in the third, then coolly capitalized on the victory to continue his defense of the Italian title.

The Netherlands advanced to Sunday’s final with a 2-0 victory, the Dutch victory coming in three straight sets against Germany on Friday. If the list of the two finalists remains the same, Berrettini will face Botic van de Zandschulp and Sinner will meet Tallon Griekspoor in the final. Italy selected Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori for the doubles rubber, while the Germans lined up Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz.