Bolelli and Fognini won the duo 7-6, 6-2 over Goranson and Madaras, thus Italy beat Sweden 2-1 and qualified first in their group (the result already obtained in the afternoon after Berrettini’s success allowed Croatia to close in second and then pass ). The Azzurri will face Malaga, in the quarter-finals on November 24, the United States. Meanwhile, they are enjoying audience success, with 28,000 tickets sold from Tuesday to today
Matteo Berrettini defeated Elias Ymir (No. 119 in the world) in the first singles for Italy and Sweden, 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and a quarter. With this success, and no matter how the other two matches scheduled for them end, it is certain that Italy will indeed go to Malaga as the first place in their group. In the quarter-finals, the Azzurri will face the United States. “A strong opponent, we will find Francis – Ed Tiafoe – who has just reached the semi-finals at the US Open – but I think it’s a tough commitment for them as well, then if we want to go as far we have to do that challenging them all,” Berrettini said. Matthew played tennis very strong, finished with 9 aces, never gave up on any break point, sent 75% of the first balls, got 91% of the points. At first, he ceded only two points, four points per second. Figures that are no less than excellent, are almost infrequent. The two decisive breaks to challenge his opponent’s game went well into the ninth game of the first set and the fifth of the second.
In the second singles, Yannik Sinner was surprisingly defeated by another Ymer, Mikael, brother of Elias, the 98th ranked world number one and protagonist in a match of absolute depth, which lasted 2 hours 22 and ended with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. A long-arm wrestling that ended with a positive streak boycott by a South Tyrolean who had never lost in Davis’ previous six singles (he had suffered three defeats in most doubles). In the eighth match of the last set with the Swede 4-3, Sener got 4 break points, but he was unable to break the serve, which he later lost in the match after the third match point.
Sinner (who won the previous match against Croatian Coric in the third match), in addition to his opponent’s brilliant evening, made quite a few fouls, taking 37% of break points (6 u 16) and only gave 53% of the first balls against 76% of his opponent. Emphasizing that in Davis, even in this debate and revolution, the ATP rankings are not canon.
“I was a bit tired, both physically and mentally – the blue player, who lost serve three times in the last set and seven times throughout the whole match – got stuck and also struggled a little bit with some side moves. Even if the hip – which has been touched more than once – is not Ok. Plus I lacked a bit of nervous energy and that’s due to the fact that I went out into the field knowing we were still number one after Mathieu’s success. But I don’t want to take anything away from my opponent’s excellent performance, of course, he lost his burns But it was a great week for the team, we finished first as we wanted and now I just want to think about the positive things.” There are also a few things to review, admitted Janek, who used to pay attention to detail with crazy dedication: “Sometimes I make mistakes in some choices, but we change some things in my game, a little bit in the service, the match on the net. There are still some important indoor tournaments and Davis finals.” I don’t know if we will be favourites against the United States, I don’t think it’s important, for sure it will be very difficult days.”
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