Tennis - Davis Cup Finals - Semi Final - Australia v Italy - Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena Arena, Malaga, Spain - November 23, 2024 Italy's Jannik Sinner in action during his singles match against Australia's Alex De Minaur REUTERS/Jon Nazca
MALAGA, Spain (Reuters) - Defending champions Italy moved into the Davis Cup final after a 2-0 win over Australia on Saturday as Jannik Sinner defeated Alex de Minaur in straight sets to follow up Matteo Berrettini's victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis.
A repeat of last year's final ended with the same result and with world number one Sinner again seeing off De Minaur, sending Italy into Sunday's final where they will meet the Netherlands who have reached the decider for the first time.
Berrettini lost the opening set on a tiebreak before coming out on top 6-7(6) 6-3 7-5. Sinner broke early to take a 2-0 lead in the opening set and although De Minaur responded with a break of his own, Sinner's second break proved decisive.
The second set went with serve for the first eight games as the Australian gave as good as he got, but Sinner finally made the break to lead 5-4 and served out to wrap up a 6-3 6-4 win.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Ed Osmond)
