Italy moved into the Davis Cup final after a 2-0 win over Australia on Saturday as Jannik Sinner defeated Alex de Minaur in straight sets to follow up Matteo Berrettini’s victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis for the defending champions.
A repeat of last year’s final ended with the same result and with Sinner, the world No 1, again seeing off De Minaur. That sent Italy into Sunday’s final where they will meet the Netherlands, who have reached the decider for the first time after a 2-0 win over Germany.
Berrettini lost the opening set on a tie-break before coming out on top 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-5. Sinner broke early to take a 2-0 lead in the opening set and although De Minaur responded with a break of his own, Sinner’s second break proved decisive.
The second set went with serve for the first eight games as the Australian gave as good as he got, but Sinner finally made the break to lead 5-4 and served out to wrap up a 6-3, 6-4 win.