Davis cup: Tonight show with Sinner

MALAGA, November 23

Italy’s Jannik Sinner won his singles match and paired up with Lorenzo Sonego to claim a doubles victory as the former champions beat Netherlands 2-1 to book their place in the Davis Cup semifinals today.

Sinner and Sonego overcame the duo of Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-3 6-4 as Italy reached back-to-back semifinals 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 No. 1 Novak Djokovic or Britain who meet in their quarterfinal.

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 semifinals 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.

World No. 4 Sinner, who was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the ATP Finals title clash on Sunday, got them back into the quarterfinal tie with an impressive display against Griekspoor.

Gutsy Australia

Last year’s runners-up Australia powered into the semifinals with a battling 2-1 win over three-time 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. “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.” — Reuters