Matteo Berrettini gave Italy a crucial lead over the Netherlands in the final of the 2024 Davis Cup Finals by beating Botic van de Zandschulp.
Last year, Jannik Sinner proved to be the hero for Italy when he led the country to their first win at the Davis Cup in 47 years. This year, he needed to win two of his matches in the first tie as well, but Berrettini helped him, and he helped him in the following two ties as well.
After Sinner won his singles match in the quarter-finals against Argentina, he teamed up with Berrettini to win in doubles and send their country to the semi-finals.
In the semi-final tie, Berrettini was already nominated for the singles match, and he won it, which meant that Sinner could send Australia home by winning his singles match, and he did.
Unsurprisingly, the duo was once again nominated for the singles matches in the final tie against the Netherlands, and Berrettini once again delivered an extremely solid performance to beat Botic van de Zandschulp.
Like the Italian, Van de Zandschulp was also undefeated at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals prior to this match, beating Rafael Nadal and Daniel Altmaier in singles and winning also his doubles match against Spain.
But Berrettini proved to be too strong for him. Both are great servers, and that was reflected in the first set of this match. Both held serve comfortably, but that was only until the ninth game when the Dutch player felt the pressure and lost his serve.
As a result, Berrettini won the first set 6-4, as he didn't face a single break point throughout the set. He was able to keep that stat line also in the second set, and that was crucial.
The former Wimbledon finalist managed to break his opponent twice, and since he was perfect on his own serve, it was a simple 6-4, 6-2 win for Berrettini to give Italy the first point in the final of the 2024 Davis Cup Finals.
Naturally, Berrettini was very happy to get this win for his country, especially since it means that Jannik Sinner can seal back-to-back titles for the country in his singles match against Tallon Griekspoor.
"It feels unbelievable. It feels great to be on court. If you win, it’s obviously better. But being able to be healthy and be here, enjoying this kind of atmosphere is most important for me. Because I missed that. I missed these moments last year. We still have hopefully just one more match to go. But the first step was taken."
Berrettini was also happy about his level. He said that he felt like it never left. The only problem was that over the past few years, he continuously struggled either physically or mentally.
"I feel like my level never really left. When you’re struggling physically and mentally, it’s not easy to play your best tennis. But I always had the feeling my level was there. I just had to work hard. That’s what I did this year and that’s why I’m playing pretty good right now."
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