Italy beat Austria 2-0 to reach the semifinals at the Davis Cup Final 8 at the Unipol Arena in Bologna. Italy extended its winning streak to 12 consecutive victories.
Matteo Berrettini beat Jurij Rodionov 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in one hour and 46 minutes to earn defending two-time champion Italy a 1-0 lead. Flavio Cobolli beat Filip Misolic 6-1 6-3 in the second singles match to secure Italy a spot in the semifinal.
Berrettini saved a break point with an ace in the seventh game before breaking serve in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead and held serve to close out the opening set 6-3 on his second set point in the ninth game.
Rodionov earned a break in the sixth game and consolidated it to open up a 5-2 lead in the second set. Berrettini broke back in the ninth game to get back on serve at 4-5. The Italian player went down 0-40 on serve and faced three consecutive set points in the next game. He saved them to hold serve for 5-5. Both players held on their next serve to set up a tie-break.
Berrettini earned an early mini-break to take a 2-0 lead. Rodionov pulled back on serve to draw level to 2-2. Berrettini went up a second mini-break to take a 5-2 lead and converted his first match point to close out the tie-break 7-4. Berrettini won all six of his Davis Cups matches in 2024.
Matteo Berrettini: “I was really happy to step on court. I was really happy actually to be called first, then to come here, enjoy this atmosphere, the team, teammates, my good friends. It’s just so special for me. It’s really one of the reasons why I’m playing tennis is to feel this kind of energy, to feel these kind of emotions. I’m really happy. Then obviously I’m happy that I won. I’m not just playing for myself, but for my team, for my country.”
Cobolli earned an early break in the first game of the second set with a backhand winner down the line. Cobolli went a double break in the fifth game to open up a 4-1 lead. The Italian player saved four break points in the sixth game to hold serve after four deuces before breaking again on his second set point.
Cobolli broke serve in the second game of the second set to open up a 3-0 lead. The Hamburg ATP 500 winner saved a break point to hold serve at deuce in the fifth game. He held his next service games to seal the second set 6-3 on his first match point.
Italy set up a semifinal clash against Belgium, who beat France 2-0.
The Italian team reached its fourth straight Davis Cup semifinal.
