Jannik Sinner has capped his breathtaking end to his banner 2023 season by main Italy to its first Davis Cup title since 1976 after defeating Australian Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-0 in Malaga on Sunday evening.
After saving three match factors to defeat World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Saturday’s semi-finals, Sinner transformed the 1-0 lead supplied by Matteo Arnaldi’s three-set win over Alexei Popyrin right into a championship-clinching end result together with his crushing victory over De Minaur, whom he now leads 6-0 of their Lexus ATP Head2Head sequence.
Following the US Open, Sinner gained 20 of his final 22 matches of the season, a run that included ATP 500 titles in Beijing and Vienna, and a runner-up end within the Nitto ATP Finals to Djokovic, whom he beat in an epic three-setter in group play in Turin.
De Minaur started the match with an aggressive love service maintain, however then scrounged simply two extra video games towards an imperious Sinner. Hitting with ferocious energy off each wings, the 10-time ATP Tour titlist dominated the baseline exchanges, dictating play with 25 winners to only 9 unforced errors.
“It has been an unimaginable feeling I believe for all of us and clearly we’re actually blissful,” mentioned Sinner.
“We saved collectively all the things and clearly yesterday we went from one level away from being out and now we will have fun the win. I believe we will all be very, very blissful.”
Sinner, 22, finishes the 12 months with a personal-best 64-15 document on the season and at a year-end career-high No. 4 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings..
Earlier within the day Arnaldi gave Italy a 1-0 lead after staring down eight break factors within the deciding set towards Popyrin.
In distinction to the alternatives missed by Popyrin, the 22-year-old seized the second when offered together with his first match level within the tenth recreation of the decider to emphatically shut out a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory in two hours and 27 minutes.
It was vindication for the previous Subsequent Gen ATP Finals qualifier, who squandered three match factors towards Botic van de Zandschulp in Italy’s 2-1 win over The Netherlands.
“I did not play a lot in the previous few weeks, so I used to be blissful after the primary match even when I misplaced,” Arnaldi mentioned. “Now I’ve gained one of the crucial necessary matches in my life.”
Italian captain Filippo Volandri, who oversaw Italy’s second Davis Cup title run, mentioned, “Actually grateful to have these guys. Actually proud to have these guys. You’ve been right here for all these two years and I actually must say because of the crowds, to Italy, for all of the help they gave us. We needed to handle with plenty of emergencies in these two years, however we did it and we did it like a household.”
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