By Canadian Press

Jannik Sinner leads Italy past the Netherlands for its second consecutive Davis Cup title

Nov 24, 2024 | 10:49 AM

MALAGA, Spain (AP) — Jannik Sinner clinched Italy’s second consecutive Davis Cup title and capped his breakthrough season at the top of tennis by beating Tallon Griekspoor 7-6 (2), 6-2 on Sunday for a 2-0 win over the Netherlands in the final of the team competition.

Matteo Berrettini put Italy ahead with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Botic van de Zandschulp in the opening singles match on an indoor hard court at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena in southern Spain.

The Italians, backed by a loud contingent of singing fans playing drums and armed with megaphones in the crowd of 9,200, became the first country to win the Davis Cup twice in a row since the Czech Republic in 2012 and 2013.

Italy’s women won the Billie Jean King Cup by defeating Slovakia on Wednesday.

Much of the credit for Italy’s Davis Cup success goes to the No. 1-ranked Sinner, who went 4-0 in Malaga, including a victory in doubles with Berrettini against Argentina in the quarterfinals.

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Sinner hit 15 aces against Griekspoor and stretched his unbeaten streak in tour-level singles competition to 14 matches and 26 sets, including a title at the ATP Finals a week ago.

His ascension is one of the year’s biggest stories in tennis. Sinner went 73-8 with eight singles titles in 2024, with his first two Grand Slam trophies arriving at the Australian Open in January and the U.S. Open in September. The latter came shortly after he was cleared of wrongdoing in a doping case connected to two positive tests for steroids in March; the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal of that ruling is still pending.

The Netherlands, which eliminated Rafael Nadal and Spain in the quarterfinals, reached the Davis Cup final for the first time.

Once ranked as high as No. 21, and currently No. 40, Griekspoor never has been past the third round at a major tournament. But he is equipped with a dangerous serve — to the tune of 25 aces in a semifinal victory against Germany on Friday — that helped him hold his own deep into the first set Sunday.

Griekspoor, who began the day 0-5 against Sinner, actually earned the first break chances, holding two at 1-all after three straight groundstroke misses by the Italian. But Sinner took the next four points to hold. When they got to the tiebreaker — which was preceded by dueling chants of “Italia! Italia!” and “Let’s go, Tallon! Let’s go!” — it was Sinner who was steadier, more ready for the moment, and he built a substantial lead before closing with an ace.

Sinner went up a break at 2-1 in the second, before Griekspoor made one last stand. He broke right back, then led 30-love on his serve in the following game, drawing roars from the orange-wearing Dutch fans. But Sinner remained steadfast, and broke for 3-2 when Griekspoor double-faulted, then walked to the sideline and cracked his racket against the Dutch bench.

Sinner wouldn’t drop another game the rest of the way.

Earlier, 2021 Wimbledon runner-up Berrettini needed some time to find his groove against the 80th-ranked van de Zandschulp, the man who beat Nadal in the last match of the 22-time Grand Slam title winner’s career and upset four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz at the U.S. Open.

But Berrettini took control by grabbing the opening set’s last three games, and Sinner left his front-row seat behind Italy’s bench to head to the locker room and prepare to close the deal.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press