Sinner crowns Italy in Malaga

Jannik Sinner became the name of the Davis Cup in Malaga 2023. He is the hero of a country that has not been able to grow the Salad Bowl since 1976. In the quarter-finals, the player from San Cándido won the singles and then returned to the Netherlands with Sonego in the doubles. And he made history by beating Djokovic twice in one afternoon in the semi-finals. He first won the singles in epic fashion, collecting three match points, and then signed up to win the draw in the doubles as well, alongside Sonego. In the final against Australia this Sunday, He gave Italy the final point with a recital on Martín Carpena’s track.

The sinner’s resounding victory

Afternoon tennis in Carpena is leveled with the introduction of Jannik Sinner, ranked 4th in the ATP rankings, and Alex de Miñaur, ranked 12th. The Australian had to win the man of the week award in Malaga to push on in the doubles.

De Minaur started very strong, reaching all the balls and hitting hard. But Sinner is at a great level right now. He only needed a break point in the third game of the match to take the set ahead. 2-1 and he serves to the player from San Candido. And it didn’t slow down from there. He dominated the set at will with his forehand and showed the level he offers in Martín Carpena these days. He had only one tricky moment to overcome but he resolved it flawlessly to prevent De Minaur from equalizing the set at 4-all. Now at 5-3 he broke again to take the first set. Italy was already fondling his second Salad Bowl.

The sinner was in roller mode. He knew he was facing one of the games of his life and he wasn’t going to let it slip away. The Italian player stepped up and took the first break option he had in the second set (2-0). It left De Minaur completely helpless, with the Australian unable to even score, playing almost all of his perfect shots.

There was no way to stop Sinner in this match. Every shot, just one step from the line, was a pleasure. A ‘road runner’ like De Minaur, who was usually used to reaching everyone, could not even manage to fight. With another break (4-0) the ‘redhead’ left the match, a draw and the Davis Cup was ready to be decided. And it didn’t take long for Italy to complete the title. He ended the second set with a ‘rosco’ before embracing the rest of the team.

Arnaldi wins first point

The Australian coach got the first point of the draw. Alexei Popyrin‘Azzurra’ had already won the semi-final match going into the game. Matteo Arnaldilost in the quarter finals.

Both started to defend their first service games well but it didn’t take long for breaks to come. Arnaldi struck first to break Popyrin’s serve and took a 3-1 lead in the opening set. The Australian’s response was an immediate, pointless counter-attack and a restart (3-2).

Arnaldi once again had the opportunity to take the lead, but Popyrin saved him two break points to make it 4-4 despite great pain on the scoreboard. History was repeating itself. The Italian player had three set points remaining, 5-4 and 0-40, but his strong serve managed to keep Popyrin alive in the first set (5-5). Oceanic also forgave the score of 15-40, Arnaldi raised his game and did not fail next time. A break was called to take the first set 7-5.

The blow did not affect Popyrin. He came off the bench with the confidence to turn the game around and break it first time. He combined a comfortable game on serve with a break to take a 2-0 lead at the beginning of the second set. The game had changed completely. The Australian player’s mental reset was complete and he broke his opponent’s serve once again, leaving the second set on track (3-0). He stopped having problems maintaining his service games and took the second set with an overwhelming advantage (6-2).

Matteo Arnaldi started the last set against the ropes, but managed to save the first break and recover 15-40. Transalpine continued to suffer too much to advance in each game. He once again had to save two break points to stay ahead in the set (2-1). There can’t be two without three. At 3-3, Arnaldi once again took the lead with his serve and won 15-40 (4-3). And he saved another goal with a score of 4-4. Popyrin had 8 break points in total and could not capitalize on them. He donated and paid. Because then it was 4-5 and he had to serve against and the pressure got the better of him. And here Arnaldi smelled blood and came to the match. The Australian opened the door and the Italian came with everything to close out the match, giving Italy their first point of the tie (7-5, 2-6 and 6-4).