MALAGA, Spain — Matteo Berrettini justified his promotion to Italy’s singles lineup by placing apart a collapse on the finish of the primary set and coming again to beat Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-5 Saturday, shifting the defending Davis Cup champion to the verge of returning to the ultimate.
Berrettini grabbed the final three video games, breaking to guide 6-5, then closing it out together with his 14th ace after 2 hours, 44 minutes.
The second singles match of the best-of-three semifinal was scheduled to be No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy towards No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia. Sinner gained this yr’s Australian Open and U.S. Open for his first two Grand Slam trophies, then collected the title on the ATP Finals final week.
He entered Saturday having gained his previous 22 units in tour-level singles matches.
Italy or Australia will meet first-time finalist Netherlands on Sunday on an indoor laborious courtroom on the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martina Carpena in southern Spain. The Dutch adopted up their victory over Rafael Nadal and Spain within the quarterfinals by eliminating Germany within the semifinals on Friday.
Australia, the runner-up to Italy a yr in the past and to Canada in 2022, was attempting to develop into the primary nation to achieve three Davis Cup finals in a row because it did so from 1999 to 2001. The final of the Australians’ 28 titles got here in 2003.
Italy can develop into the primary nation to win the Davis Cup twice in a row for the reason that Czech Republic in 2012 and 2013. Italy’s girls gained the Billie Jean King Cup by defeating Slovakia in Malaga.
The a lot shorter journey for Italian followers than Australians meant the 9,200-seat area appeared like a house atmosphere for Berrettini, with repeated chants of “I-ta-lia!” or “Ole, ole, ole, ole! Matte’! Matte’!” amplified by megaphones and accompanied by drums and trumpets. Chair umpire James Keothavong repeatedly requested spectators to cease whistling as gamers had been serving.
“It seems like Italy. It is unbelievable. … I really like this environment,” Berrettini stated.
The large-hitting Berrettini, the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2021, changed Lorenzo Musetti as a singles participant for the Italians. Musetti didn’t play properly in a 6-4, 6-1 loss to Francisco Cerúndolo of Argentina within the quarterfinals.
Berrettini has been ranked as excessive as No. 6 and is at present No. 35 after lacking chunks of time the previous two seasons due to accidents or sickness. He sat out two of this yr’s 4 main tournaments and misplaced within the second spherical at every of the opposite two.
However when wholesome, he’s among the many world’s prime tennis gamers, able to speedy serves and booming forehands. He was in management for a lot of the match towards No. 77 Kokkinakis, who was the 2022 Australian Open males’s doubles champion with Nick Kyrgios and helped his nation get previous the USA within the quarterfinals Thursday.
Berrettini earned the primary break to guide 6-5 within the opening set and was some extent away whereas serving at 40-30. Kokkinakis saved that by way of a 21-stroke trade that ended with Berrettini sending a forehand lengthy, then ended up breaking again when the Italian missed once more off that wing.
Then, forward 6-4 within the tiebreaker, Berrettini had two extra alternatives to personal the set. However Kokkinakis — who saved 4 match factors towards Ben Shelton within the quarterfinals — saved one with a gutsy down-the-line backhand passing winner and the opposite with a 131 mph (212 kph) ace, a part of a four-point run to shut that set.
“It wasn’t simple to digest … as a result of I had so many possibilities,” Berrettini stated.
However he recovered from that, saved the one break level he confronted the remainder of the way in which, and was stronger down the stretch.
