Berrettini beats Kokkinakis to put Italy on verge of Davis Cup final

MALAGA, Spain (AP) — Matteo Berrettini justified his promotion to Italy's singles lineup by putting aside a collapse at the end of the first set and coming back to beat Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-5 Saturday, moving the defending Davis Cup champion to the verge of returning to the final.

Berrettini grabbed the last three games, breaking to lead 6-5, then closing it out with his 14th ace after 2 hours, 44 minutes.

The second singles match of the best-of-three semifinal was scheduled to be No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy against No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia. Sinner won this year's Australian Open and U.S. Open for his first two Grand Slam trophies, then collected the title at the ATP Finals last week.

He entered Saturday having won his past 22 sets in tour-level singles matches.

Italy or Australia will meet first-time finalist Netherlands on Sunday on an indoor hard court at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martina Carpena in southern Spain. The Dutch followed up their victory over Rafael Nadal and Spain in the quarterfinals by eliminating Germany in the semifinals on Friday.

Australia, the runner-up to Italy a year ago and to Canada in 2022, was trying to become the first country to reach three Davis Cup finals in a row since it did so from 1999 to 2001. The last of the Australians' 28 titles came in 2003.

Italy can become the first country to win the Davis Cup twice in a row since the Czech Republic in 2012 and 2013. Italy's women won the Billie Jean King Cup by defeating Slovakia in Malaga.

The much shorter trip for Italian fans than Australians meant the 9,200-seat arena sounded like a home environment for Berrettini, with repeated chants of "I-ta-lia!" or "Ole, ole, ole, ole! Matte'! Matte'!" amplified by megaphones and accompanied by drums and trumpets. Chair umpire James Keothavong repeatedly asked spectators to stop whistling as players were serving.

"It feels like Italy. It's unbelievable. ... I love this atmosphere," Berrettini said.

The big-hitting Berrettini, the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2021, replaced Lorenzo Musetti as a singles player for the Italians. Musetti did not play well in a 6-4, 6-1 loss to Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina in the quarterfinals.

Berrettini has been ranked as high as No. 6 and is currently No. 35 after missing chunks of time the past two seasons because of injuries or illness. He sat out two of this year's four major tournaments and lost in the second round at each of the other two.

But when healthy, he is among the world's top tennis players, capable of speedy serves and booming forehands. He was in control for much of the match against No. 77 Kokkinakis, who was the 2022 Australian Open men's doubles champion with Nick Kyrgios and helped his country get past the United States in the quarterfinals Thursday.

Berrettini earned the first break to lead 6-5 in the opening set and was a point away while serving at 40-30. Kokkinakis saved that via a 21-stroke exchange that ended with Berrettini sending a forehand long, then ended up breaking back when the Italian missed again off that wing.

Then, ahead 6-4 in the tiebreaker, Berrettini had two more opportunities to own the set. But Kokkinakis — who saved four match points against Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals — saved one with a gutsy down-the-line backhand passing winner and the other with a 131 mph (212 kph) ace, part of a four-point run to close that set.

"It wasn't easy to digest ... because I had so many chances," Berrettini said.

But he recovered from that, saved the only break point he faced the rest of the way, and was stronger down the stretch.

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