Berrettini puts Italy on brink of third successive Davis Cup final

With a dominant straight-set victory over Belgium’s Raphael Collignon, Matteo Berrettini led two-time defending champions Italy to the brink of a third successive Davis Cup title.

Berrettini overcame Collignon’s second-set resistance to win 6-3, 6-4 in Bologna, supported by a ten-person sold-out crowd of 10,000 in Bologna.

If Flavio Cobolli can defeat Zizou Bergs in a singles match, Italy would become the first country to reach three straight Davis Cup finals since Australia in 2001.

Italy is aiming to become the first country to win three consecutive Davis Cup titles without the top two men’s singles players, including world number two Jannik Sinner and eighth-ranked Lorenzo Musetti, despite the absence of the nation’s top two men’s singles players.

Sinner, a key member of the Italian team that won the previous two games, chose to maximize his recovery over the course of the sport’s brief six-week off-season after winning at the ATP Finals last week.

Discussions about the tournament’s future format have arisen as a result of the presence of just one of the top ten men’s players this year.

Both players discussed the privileges of representing their country in the Finals after Berrettini and Cobolli made headlines for Italy in their quarter-final against Austria.

Berrettini kept his momentum going after winning his opening straight-set match with a 3-1 lead.

The 56th-ranked player, the former Wimbledon runner-up, broke right away in set two after Collignon double-faulted twice.

However, when Collignon had his first chance to level at 2-2, his charge to the finish was slowed, and the Belgian was denied a fourth straight game when Berrettini landed a sensational cross-court forehand to stop yet another break point two games later.

Berrettini, however, maintained his dominance over the competition after regaining his composure with a second break, winning 10 straight singles for his nation.

After the game, Berrettini said, “Pressure is a privilege.” Although I feel the pressure, you’re playing in front of your home country, and my entire family is there. We’re all wonderful teammates.