Italy, Davis Cup champion for the second time in its history

Italy, with Jannik Sinner as a figure, beat Australia 2-0 in the Davis Cup final in MalagaSpain, and thus achieved his second Salad Bowl after 47 years.

Matteo Arnaldinumber 34 in the world, and sinnerthe 4th in the ATP ranking, got the two points for the team captained by Filippo Volandriin what was the eighth final for the Italian team, in the final held at the José María Martín Carpena Sports Palace in Málaga.

So, Sinner, Arnaldi, Lorenzo Musetti and Simone Bolelli They wrote their name in the history of the most important team competition in the world of tennis.

After leaving on the road Serbia in the semifinals, one of the great candidates, especially due to the presence of the world number 1, Novak DjokovicItaly arrived as a favorite for the grand final of the 2023 edition. However, on the other side it had a team that knows what it is like to play finals (49 in total) and that was in search of its 29th cup.

But he could do little against an Italy that came out determined to finish the series with only the singles points. First it was the turn of Arnaldi, who won 7-5, 2-6 and 6-4 against Alexei Popyrin (40), in 2 hours and 29 minutes.

In a very disputed first set, in which both services were broken, finally Arnaldi He achieved the final break in the 12th game to close the first set 7-5.

Supported by his powerful serve, Popyrin He became strong in the second set and got two breaks in his rival’s first two serves to quickly take a 3-0 lead. And from there, without any problems, he sealed the set with a resounding 6-2. The Australian finished the set with 6 of the 12 aces he hit in the entire match.

But when it seemed that Popyrin began to move toward victory, he encountered a fighter Arnaldi, who saved the eight break points that his rival had in his favor.

On the other hand, the Italian, who had also had a break chance with the match at 4-3 but could not take advantage of it, did not forgive him in the second and made it 6-4 final and the first point for Italy.

And it was time to Sinner, the great hero in the series against Serbia, who had just struck the blow with his victory against Novak Djokovic in singles and doubles. And on top of that, the Italian also arrived with the statistics in his favor, because he had faced five times against Alex de Minaur (12), the best Australian racket, and he had beaten them all.

And indeed, Sinner it did not fail. With the same forcefulness that he showed on Saturday and throughout the season, he did not give the world number 12 a chance and won by a crushing 6-3 and 6-0 to give the final point to Italy and the long-awaited Davis Cup. .

A finishing touch to Sinner, who had been left with the thorn of the fall before Djokovic in the final of the ATP Finals, but he closes his best season with victories in the Masters 1000 in Toronto, the ATP 500 in Beijing and Vienna, and the ATP 250 in Montpellier.

This was the second Salad Bowl for Italy, which had already celebrated in 1976 against Chile. In addition, she had played, without success, in the finals of 1960, 1961, 1977, 1979, 1980 and 1998.