In that sense, the loss of the series was consummated with the defeat of Cerúndolo, 27 in the ATP world ranking, against Sinner (11) by 7-5, 1-6 and 6-3 in a high-voltage match. which lasted for two hours and 37 minutes.
It is that before in the first point played at the Unipol Arena stadium, in the Italian city of Bologna, Báez (37) had lost to Berrettini (15) by a comfortable 6-2 and 6-3 in one hour and 11 minutes, and the series began to tilt in favor of the “tanos”, who were already installed in the quarterfinals to be played in November in Malaga.
Argentina discounted at the point of doubles, so far the strongest that the team showed in Daviswith the triumph of Horace Zeballos Y Maximo Gonzalez against the Italians Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli 7-5, 2-6 and 6-3 in a match that lasted two hours and 21 minutes.
Argentina had begun its participation in Group A with a 2-1 loss last Tuesday against Sweden, also with the only point contributed by the couple made up of Mar del Plata and Tandil, while Italy swept Croatia 3-3 on Wednesday. 0.
On the second date, Croatia beat Sweden 2-1 and, despite the defeat against the Italians, Argentina still has a chance of being the second classified in the group for the quarterfinals that will be played in Malaga between 23 and 27 of November.
In that context, Argentina will have to beat Croatia this Saturday, yes or yes, and in turn hope that Italy wins its three group games, including the last one that it will play on Sunday against the Swedes.
If this combination of results occurs, then the Argentine team that has Guillermo Coria as captain will define (as long as it beats the Balkans) by number of sets won and lost to determine the classification.
The first defeat of the day was suffered by Báez and it was foreseeable against a superior tennis player like Berrettini, especially on the fast surface on which the series is played, perhaps on clay the Argentine could have made him stronger.
Báez’s game was presented as a duel of dissimilar styles, between the Italian who plays with serve and forehand, and the Argentine who has service return as a strong point.
The Argentine started with doubts and the Italian very comfortable in his game, so he quickly went ahead 3-0 with a break in the second point.
The Italian stretched his advantage to 4-1 with a very solid serve and good forehands, so it was not surprising that in just half an hour he took the opening set 6-2 and with total control of the situation.
That quick break conditioned the Argentine who never felt comfortable on the court, perhaps because he had to return too far back, that always kept him on the defensive.
In the second set, Báez raised his level, although not enough to bother Berrettini, who continued to punish with the power of his forehand and went ahead 4-2 with another break of serve to maintain control of the match until 6-3. decorated the end result.
Then Cerúndolo came into action and because it was his debut he more than approved the challenge despite the final loss to Sinner.
The Argentine had a very good start, playing stick and stick, with a very good attitude, and that kept him in the game until he gave up his serve in the ninth game and that allowed the Italian to take the first important advantage.
A Cerúndolo backhand crosscourt that caught the net broke the Italian who went ahead 6-5 and then served at love to take the set 7-5 in 59 minutes.
In the second set the Argentine played incredible tennis, hitting from both sides and putting Sinner on the defensive, who tried unsuccessfully to return him to the center to contain him.
The 24-year-old Argentine continued to throw “bombs” from the right and had his reward when he broke the Italian to go ahead 2-0 and celebrated very loudly with the public.
“Fran” had a double break to go up 4-0 and took a tremendous clean and jerk to go up 5-0 and had two sets points for 6-0, though Sinner picked them up and eventually it was 6-1.
In the final set the parity was maintained, only that Sinner returned much better and thus was able to achieve the only break to go ahead 4-2 and then close 6-3 to celebrate at length with his public and before the eyes of the handful of Argentine fans who approached the stadium.
The two losses made the series belong to the Italians, but the doubles point that closed the match showed Zeballos and “Machi” González very competitive to achieve a victory that could be very important for Argentina in the outcome of the series, since that can affect the classification to the quarterfinals.
This Saturday Argentina will face Croatia, which has a strong singles player like Borna Coric (26), another weak one like Borna Gojo (164) and a world-class doubles made up of Mate Pavic and Nikola Mekic, 10 and 11 in the world respectively.
Source: Ambito
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