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.”

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 difficult game, we are playing with Alex. We know each other well now so I have to be careful all the time,” said Sinner. “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. .”

More to follow…