The debate over qualification for an eighth Davis Cup final in Malaga has been postponed until Sunday when Italy (the defending champions) face the Netherlands on the final day of Group A of the Davis Cup Finals in Bologna.
The Azzurri beat Belgium 2-1 thanks to victories from Matteo Berrettini, albeit a comeback, over 19-year-old Alexander Block and the Simone Bolelli-Andrea Vavassori duo who beat Sander Gill and Joran Vliegen in two sets 7-6 7-5, after a cold shower following Flavio Cobolli’s defeat, on his Davis debut, to Zizou Berg.
The first point of the day belonged to Italy, who saw in the first singles, the point for the second team, the successful comeback of Matteo Berrettini, number 43 in the ATP, who beat 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in an hour and 58 minutes of match, Alexander Block, number 253, made his Davis Cup debut.
“If it weren’t for the Davis match, it wouldn’t have ended like this,” said the 28-year-old Romanian, who suffered greatly against the 19-year-old Belgian, in his first appearance. Offering a “baptism of fire” to young up-and-comers seems to have become Berrettini’s leitmotif in Bologna. Wednesday Fonseca: Blockx today. But if with the Brazilian he came close to losing just one set, with the Belgian he risked more. The junior singles champion at the 2023 Australian Open (and doubles finalist at the same tournament) starts boldly and the Belgian wins the first set 6-3.
Berrettini then raised his level in the second and third sets. One step away from the tiebreak, three consecutive forehand errors proved fatal for the Belgian. “I didn’t know what to expect – Berrettini’s words at the end of the match on Sky – I didn’t enter with the same energy as that day, but I tried to throw my heart over the hurdle. Today I didn’t” “I played my best match, but in Davis what matters is to come back and I’m proud that I can play and feel better, but the goal was to win without the energy of the crowd and my teammates, maybe I would have lost every time I come here feeling the same excitement as the first time”. However, Flavio Cobolli’s Davis Cup debut was bitter. The Romanian lost in three sets to Zizou Berges: 6-3, 6-7, 6-0 in less than two and a half hours of play. A physical and nervous battle, won by a distance by the Belgian tennis player who managed to turn the deadlock in his favor thanks to a break of serve in the second game of the third set. The heart test was not enough for Cobolli, who made his first appearance in the competition. “I’m proud of my attitude. In the third set, when I suffered the break, I started to think a lot,” Cobolli said later in the press conference. “In the first set I took a break of 40-15, the set’s inertia changed, I got some firsts. I reacted well in the second. I didn’t expect to lose the third set 6-0. That’s still my goal.” He added: “First match in Davis and that’s important, in the end, after the break in the third game, I lost mental clarity and physical brilliance, and I still have to be proud of the match I played and how I managed my emotions.” Cobolli then thanked Berrettini for his constant encouragement. “Matteo is a bit of a leader of this team – he concluded – and my eyes often turned to him. He helped me a lot and he will help all of us to be able to manage these moments.”
Reproduction © Copyright ANSA
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