At the round-robin of the ATP finals, Italy’s Jannik Sinner beat the world number one Novak Djokovic but froze in the final where he lost in straight sets.
But when it mattered most for his country, he played the game of his life, beating Djokovic to knock out Serbia in the semifinal and set up an amazing final with Australia, who, with their 29 titles, were pulling strings to close the gap with USA with 32 Davis Cup trophies.
After Kecmanovic took the opening singles rubber against Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in the semifinal, Djokovic had three match points against Sinner. At 6-5 for Djokovic in the final set, Sinner was serving 0 – 40, just a point for Djokovic to win and send Italy out of the Davis Cup and be in the final.
It was the first time in his career that he would blow a three-match point. Sinner struggled back to win the game and eventually beat Djokovic 7-5 in the decider. That victory levelled the tie 1-1. Sinner paired with Lorenzo Sonego to beat Djokovic and Kecmanovic 6-3, 6-4.
That set them up against Australia in Sunday’s final in Malaga, Spain. In the first singles, Italy’s Arnaldi Matteo beat Alex Popyrin 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 before Sinner, the star of this year’s Davis Cup, stepped on stage to maul Alex de Minau 6-3, 6-0, setting the Palacio de Los Deportes, venue of the final on fireworks.
It was an emotional final for Italy, who were winning the Davis Cup for only the second time in the history of the Cup that is equivalent to the World Cup in football. They won it last in 1998. Italy are the world tennis champions.