It's all about the trophy in the background on Sunday. © APA/afp / LLUIS GENE

Out of this world: Sinner leads Italy to the final

What Jannik Sinner achieved on Saturday at the Davis Cup in Malaga will go down in the history books. Not only did he beat Novak Djokovic in an epic match, but he also led Italy to the final thanks to the doubles win.

25 November 2023

Jannik Sinner could do his outstanding victory over Novak Djokovic He couldn't really make the most of it, as he still had the decisive double ahead of him. Alongside Lorenzo Sonego he met Miomir Kecmanovic and? Of course, Novak Djokovic. The superstar is not nearly as highly valued in this discipline as he is in the individual, but captain Viktor Troicki did not want to and could not do without a man of his class. But even the 36-year-old couldn't find a solution against the perfectly harmonizing Italian duo - in the end it was 6:3, 6:4.

There was no sign of tiredness: Sinner began the doubles as he had finished the singles. With strong impacts. Djokovic and Kecmanovic had no chance with the South Tyrolean's service, but at the same time they were put under a lot of pressure by his returns. When the score was 3-2, the Serbs were already leading the game 30-0 before the Azzurri won four points in a row and took the break. Without giving a single chance to break, Filippo Volandri's protégés ended the first set after 36 minutes.

Nerve-wracking ending

Djokovic and Kecmanovic looked for the right recipe, but they couldn't find it. At the beginning of the second set, the duo received their next break after a clever volley from the veteran. In an attempt to defend this, Sonego played a weak service game. Two inaccuracies from the baseline and a double fault led to a re-break. Shortly afterwards, further disaster loomed when the Serbs found four breakballs but didn't use any of them.

Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Sonego understand each other blindly. © ANSA / Jorge Zapata

Sinner then demonstrated why his forehand is one of the hardest on the tour. Time after time the balls hit the Serbian half of the pitch with hellish speed. An example of this was the point that led to the next break: Sinner aimed several times at Kecmanovic, who was forced to play a lob, which Sonego used dryly. When the player from Sexten served for the match, there was a chance to break, but he remained ice cold - as was so often the case on this memorable day. With a return error, Djokovic sent the Azzurri into the final, where they are favored against Australia on Sunday (16 p.m.).