Berrettini battles past Kokkinakis to give Italy 1-0 lead in high-quality Davis Cup encounter
The Italian recovered to defeat Kokkinakis 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-5 and get his country off to the perfect start in the Davis Cup semi-finals
Matteo Berrettini, Davis Cup, 2024 © Zuma / Panoramic
Matteo Berrettini staged an impressive comeback against Thanasi Kokkinakis, overcoming the tenacious Australian 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-5 to give Italy a 1-0 lead in their Davis Cup semi-final tie against Australia.
In a repeat of last year’s Davis Cup final, defending champions Italy have again put themselves in a commanding position to eliminate the Australians, with the irrepressible world No 1 Jannik Sinner to take on Alex De Minaur in the tie’s second match.
Both Berrettini and Kokkinakis played to a very high standard, producing arguably the finest match of this year’s Davis Cup finals so far in terms of drama and competitiveness. With both Australian and Italian spectators in fine voice and large numbers, the atmosphere inside the Jose María Martín Carpena Arena was transformed into a cauldron of patriotic passion as the pair went toe-to-toe for two hours and 43 minutes.
engrossing match goes the distance
Serve held firm across the opening games of the match, with both delivering a high standard behind their service games. Yet the Italian was creating a greater number of chances, and the pressure eventually told in the eleventh game as Berrettini made his breakthrough.
But he could not serve out the set in the next game as the Australian broke straight back to send a tight opening stanza to a tiebreak.
In the breaker, Kokkinakis took an early lead before pegged back and overtaken as the Italian found his way to two set points at 6-4. With the set once again on his racquet, however, Berrettini still could not get over the line as Davis Cup comeback king Kokkinakis produced another remarkable escape act to steal the opening set.
The Australian saved three sets points in total, converting his only break point when it mattered most as Berrettini was left to rue a break-point conversion of only 20% – a stat which proved expensive for the Italian.
But the former Wimbledon finalist did not back away from the task at hand. After batting away a second break point for his opponent, Berrettini finally secured the pivotal break of serve in the eighth game of the second set. This time, there were no jitters from the big-serving Italian when serving for the set as he emphatically held to love to force a decider.
The Aussie saved two break points in the opening game of the third, before a tight and serve-dominated final stanza unfolded.
Neither player faced any further break points until as late as the eleventh game when Berrettini, as he did in the first, broke in the penultimate game of the set – courtesy of a superb forehand sliced retrieval from deep behind the baseline – to earn the chance to serve Italy into a 1-0 lead.
Unlike the first set, the Italian held his nerve excellently to clinch a very hard-fought win with a blistering ace.
berrettini back to his best after difficult comeback season
Berrettini was complimentary of Kokkinakis’ efforts in his on-court interview following the match.
“He is such a talented player, and when you play for your country, you just give your best,” he said.
“He won many ties this year, so I knew that he is a tough opponent. After I lost the first set it wasn’t easy to digest everything because I had so many chances.
“But it doesn’t matter – when I looked at my bench, I saw the guys were even more pumped for me to win and I kept on fighting. I’m really happy for that.”
After a season of incremental progress following repeated comebacks from a litany of injuries over the past eighteen months, this victory feels like a declaration from Berrettini that he is very much back to his best.
The Davis Cup has been a reviving catalyst for him at the end of a tough year across which he has flown relatively under the radar, but been playing increasingly high-level tennis.
He has given Italy the perfect start in their mission to return to the final as defending champions.
Now, all attention turns to Sinner against De Minaur as the world No 1 and heavy favourite looks to build upon Berrettini’s lead and apply the finishing touch on victory for his country.
