After 25 years, Italy returns to the Davis Cup final and will now have a great opportunity to win it again, against Australia, repeating the 1976 match in Chile.
In Malaga, Filippo Volandri’s Azzurri achieved the feat by beating Serbia 2-1, led by a monumental Jannik Sinner, capable of roughing up Novak Djokovic twice in one afternoon. The world number 4, after bringing the point to 1-1 in the singles with Djokovic, equalized the defeat suffered earlier in the day by Lorenzo Musetti – beaten 6-7 (7-9), 6-2, 6-1 by Miomir Kecmanovic – underwent overtime.
He returned to hard court in the doubles, supported by Lorenzo Sonego. Djokovic is still in front, paired with Kecmanovic. And the blue duo showed great harmony, eliminating the Serbs with a double 6-4. “Happy, yes. But still not satisfied.” At the end Sinner was already thinking about tomorrow. “It was a long day, but when it ends like this the emotions are beautiful – he added – It was a very difficult double to play at 1-1. But we always believed in it. We are happy to be in the final, we will try to also resolve the Australia ‘problem’. The team has shown that it is alive.”
Sinner’s marathon opened with the ‘face to face’ with Djokovic, which the Italian concluded in the best possible way, defeating him for the second time in 12 days, winning the ‘beautiful’ of the three matches played between the ATP Finals and Davis. Only Medvedev had achieved such a prestigious double in the same season, in 2019. Against the man who has so far accumulated the enormity of 400 weeks as number 1 in the ranking, the South Tyrolean played a memorable match, canceling all opponent three consecutive match points (from 0-40 in the third set) and showing off a technical and, above all, mental maturity that made the difference in the decisive matches. A victory as a complete champion, which gave Italy the opportunity to play everything in the doubles, which ended in triumph and with the embrace of captain Volandri and the whole team.
Sinner beat Nole 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in 2 hours and 33 minutes. The Serbian had not lost in the Davis Cup since 2011 and had won the last 20 singles in a row. A sentence, until this afternoon, when a monumental Sinner stopped him with a match worth remembering. The first set was almost without history, closed by the blue in 37′. But Djokovic resets and starts again in the second set, finding the first serve that had betrayed him at the start. Sinner drops a bit from the back, forced as he is to risk more with the forehand. Result, 6-2 is returned and we go to the third, the most uncertain. The second game, Sinner’s turn to serve, lasts almost 14 minutes and is won by the Italian with an ace at the twentieth point. The match experiences its most intense phase. The errors become more and more rare, the winning points increase. But in the end it is the ‘red’ that wins. “I entered the court already exhausted from how much I had cheered for him – joked Sonego, after the doubles victory – Now we have to forget what we did and recharge ourselves”.
Read the full article on ANSA.it
2023-11-25 20:34:00
#Davis #Cup #Sinner #leads #Italy #Australia #final #ANSA #Agency
