‘Special’ Sinner inspired Italy to Davis Cup semi-finals

Jannik Sinner inspired defending champions Italy to a comeback victory over Argentina, leading to a Davis Cup semi-final against Australia.

Sinner, the world number one, kept Italy in contention after Lorenzo Musetti’s loss to Francisco Cerundolo with a comfortable win over Sebastian Baez.

The 23-year-old then partnered Matteo Berrettini to a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Andres Molteni and Maximo Gonzalez in the deciding doubles match to complete the turnaround in Malaga.

In a repeat of last year’s title decider, Italy will face Australia for a place in Sunday’s final after they beat the USA 2-1 earlier on Thursday.

Italy is aiming to become the sixth country to retain the Davis Cup since the introduction of the final stage 52 years ago, and the first since the Czech Republic in 2013.

Germany beat Canada on Wednesday confirm the semi-final against the Netherlands on Friday, who knocked out Spain in the final tournament of Rafael Nadal’s career.

Sinner proves Italy ‘special’ in title fight

Looking to cap off an outstanding individual season by helping Italy retain the Davis Cup, Sinner broke Baez’s serve twice in both sets for an outright victory.

Sinner in uniform won ATP Finals title on Sunday to cap a year in which he also won the first two Grand Slam titles of his career, but he was also embroiled in ongoing doping controversy.

Cerundolo, world number 30, put in an outstanding performance to give Argentina the perfect start, finishing with a 6-4 (6-1) win over 17th-ranked Musetti, having won 12 of their last 15 games after the early break.

But Sinner, who only arrived in Spain on Tuesday – two days after his triumph in Turin – returned from his singles victory to partner the excellent Berrettini and keep Italy’s hopes of winning back-to-back titles alive.

The original pairing of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori were selected to play doubles for Italy, but Italy captain Filippo Volandri’s decision to pick two of his star names paid off.

“The trial is very fast and I didn’t have much time to adapt, but the most important thing was to keep Italy alive,” Sinner said.

Volandry, speaking about Sinner’s contribution, said: “He has never trained on this court since he arrived. Within three minutes (after the singles match) he felt completely comfortable.

“He’s special.”

Australia beat the USA after Kokkinakis’ thriller

In a meeting between two of the most successful nations in the history of the tournament, American world number four Taylor Fritz defeated Alex de Minaur after Ben Shelton lost to Thanasi Kokkinakis to force a decider.

But Matthew Ebden and Jordan Thompson took Australia, runners-up in the last two tournaments, into the last four with runaway victories over Shelton and Tommy Paul.

In a thrilling opening encounter, Kokkinakis saved four match points and won a 30-point tiebreaker against Shelton in the third set, putting Australia ahead with a 6-1 4-6 7-6 (16-14) win after two hours and 17 minutes in Malaga.

Fritz, who moved into the world’s top four after finishing runner-up to Sinner at last week’s ATP Finals, responded with a clinical 6-3 6-4 victory over ninth-ranked De Minaur to force a decider moment.

However, Ebden and Thompson proved too strong for Paul and Shelton in the doubles match and completed a high-scoring 6-4 6-4 victory with a break of serve in both sets.

It sent the 28-time champions Australia into a third straight Davis Cup semi-final and the pair celebrated with a chest-thump before hugging team captain Lleyton Hewitt – winner of two Grand Slam singles titles.

Hewitt, who was part of the last Australian team to win the Davis Cup in 2003, said: “We have a rich history in this competition. These guys know you’re honored every time you get the chance to wear the green and gold here.

“We had a group of six guys who really stepped up over the last three or four years. They rallied well and I’m just really proud of the whole team as a collective.”