Davis Cup: Too hot to handle

Malaga, November 27

Jannik Sinner capped his perfect week by leading Italy to their first Davis Cup title in nearly five decades.

Sinner took his record to 5-0 this week by beating Alex de Minaur 6-3 6-0 in the second singles match of Sunday’s final, giving Italy a 2-0 win over Australia for their first Davis Cup title since 1976. Matteo Arnaldi had given Italy the first point with a 7-5 2-6 6-4 win over Alexei Popyrin.

We are all very young. We are really hungry to try to win it one more time for our life, but having this feeling at least once, it is a really special feeling. Jannik Sinner

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The No. 4 Sinner beat top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the singles and doubles matches in Saturday’s semifinal showdown against Serbia. The 22-year-old Italian needed 1 hour, 21 minutes to seal Italy’s victory against Australia. “We are all very young. We are really hungry to try to win it one more time for our life, but having this feeling at least once, it is a really special feeling,” said Sinner, who has beaten nine top-10 players since September, though he lost to Djokovic in the ATP Tour Finals a week ago.

The Italians, who had never won the title other than in 1976, had lost the three finals they played against Australia, who were last year’s runners-up to Canada. Australia eliminated Finland in the last-four this year. The Aussies are 28-time champions but haven’t lifted the trophy since captain Lleyton Hewitt was on the winning squad as a player in 2003.

“There hasn’t been another nation that’s gone back-to-back in the last two years, so we are showing a pretty good effort collectively,” de Minaur said. “We are very, very close. It stinks like hell. We’ll be back. We’ll get this. I mean, we’ve got a very, very strong future ahead of us.”

Australia this year became just the second nation to win 200 Davis Cup ties, with the United States being the other. — AP