Italy’s Jannik Sinner won his singles match and paired up with Lorenzo Sonego to claim a doubles victory as the former champions beat the Netherlands 2-1 to book their place in the Davis Cup semi-finals yesterday.
Sinner and Sonego overcame the duo of Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-3 6-4 as Italy reached back-to-back semi-finals in the premier men’s team competition for the first time since three successive last-four appearances in 1996-98.
Italy, who won their only Davis Cup title in 1976, will now take on a Serbia side featuring world number one Novak Djokovic or Britain who meet in their quarter-final later on Thursday.
Botic van de Zandschulp earlier beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-7(6) 6-3 7-6(7) to give the Dutch a 1-0 lead in their bid to match their best result of reaching the semi-finals in 2001, before Sinner downed Griekspoor 7-6(3) 6-1 and levelled the tie.
Dutch captain Paul Haarhuis, who was a part of the team that lost to eventual champions France 22 years ago, made a late swap with Griekspoor replacing Jean-Julien Rojer for the doubles tie while Filippo Volandri brought Sinner in for Simone Bolelli.
The changes worked well for both teams in a high-octane clash but Sinner and Sonego won the crucial points in front of a boisterous crowd to send Italy through. “It means a lot to me,” Sinner said. “But more importantly we’re through to the semi-finals. It’s the first time I can experience this.
“We were under a lot of pressure. The decision to put us on the court for doubles, we have to give a lot of credit to the captain and the team... pushing us to the limit.
“It’s amazing, but now we’re focused on Saturday’s semis.”
World number four Sinner, who lost to Djokovic in the ATP Finals title clash on Sunday, got them back into the quarter-final with an impressive display against Griekspoor.
He edged the opening set before breezing through the next in only 20 minutes.
In the day’s opener, Arnaldi squandered two set points and saved one as the world number 44 won a tight opening set in the tiebreak when Van de Zandschulp sent a forehand long.
The Dutchman drew level after Arnaldi dropped serve in the eighth game of the next set and the world number 51 saved three matchpoints in the decider to prevail after nearly three hours.
Gutsy Australia see off Czechs to make Davis Cup semi-finalsLast year’s runners-up Australia powered into the semi-finals of the Davis Cup with a battling 2-1 win over three-times champions Czech Republic that set up a showdown with this year’s surprise package Finland.
Australia’s doubles pair of Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell secured their team’s progress with a 6-4 7-5 victory over Jiri Lehecka and Adam Pavlasek in the decider after Alex de Minaur edged past Lehecka 4-6 7-6(2) 7-5 to level the tie at 1-1.
“I’ve never seen anything like it live,” Ebden said of their comeback victory. “I’ve seen it on TV back in the day, comebacks when your backs are against the wall. But what Alex did to give us the chance to come out here and fight was incredible.
“I was lost for words. We were inside thinking we’re one game away from being out of here and ... winning and going to the semi-finals, we couldn’t be more proud.
“I think that really is the sign of our team spirit and our fighting culture. Can’t wait for the next one.”
The Czechs, who arrived at the Finals with a 9-0 win-loss record from three Group Stage ties in September, were seeking a first victory over Australia since 1975 and Tomas Machac beat Jordan Thompson 6-4 7-5 to give them a 1-0 lead.
Yet it was not to be their day as Australia, who lost to Canada in the 2022 final, remained on course for a 29th crown in the premier men’s team competition to get closer to the United States who are top of the pile with 32 titles.
Up next for Lleyton Hewitt’s side in today’s semi-final are outsiders Finland, who defied the odds to end Canada’s reign as champions a day earlier.
Machac, the Czech number two, backed up an early break with a comfortable service game and withstood a strong fightback from Thompson at 5-4 in the first set of the opening match.
There was little to separate the hard-hitting pair in the second set up to 4-4 and Machac traded breaks with his opponent before edging ahead to seal the victory with a forehand winner.
Australia were without Thanasi Kokkinakis, who was forced to withdraw from the Finals with an ankle injury.
Later, Australian Open quarter-finalist Lehecka saved five break points in the 10th game of the second singles contest and won a tight opening set with a big serve but surrendered the next amid a late charge from De Minaur in the tiebreak.
The 22-year-old Lehecka regrouped in the decider and could have gone 4-2 up but an inspired De Minaur kept chipping away and raised his level towards the end to prevail.
“It would have been quite easy for me to roll over under the circumstances, but that’s just not the type of player I am,” De Minaur said.
“I’m always going to fight until the end... I got a little sniff. I was able to roll with it. I think my reputation’s quite strong when it comes to these types of situations. It precedes me. Maybe I won that match because of that today.”