Stefanos Tsitsipas battled from a set all the way down to topple Matteo Berrettini Saturday however it was in useless as an unstoppable Lucia Bronzetti powered Italy into the ultimate of the inaugural United Cup in opposition to a dominant United States.
World quantity 4 Tsitsipas got here via a do-or-die conflict in Sydney 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 to earn an important level for his nation and increase his confidence forward of the Australian Open.
But it wasn’t sufficient with Bronzetti pummelling Greece’s Valentini Grammatikopoulou 6-2, 6-3 within the following match to offer Italy an unassailable 3-1 lead.
They meet the United States in Sunday’s remaining after the red-hot Americans swept previous Poland 5-0.
Italy went into day two of the semifinals with a 2-0 benefit after a gutsy Martina Trevisan upset world quantity six Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-5 in a gripping encounter on Friday.
Trevisan’s teammate Lorenzo Musetti then crushed Greek teenager Stefanos Sakellaridis 6-1, 6-1.
With Tsitsipas profitable, the strain is now on Valentini Grammatikopoulou who performs Lucia Bronzetti in one other must-win conflict. If she does, the tie will go to a deciding blended doubles rubber.
“I hung in there and was just waiting for my chances, he’s a big server,” stated Tsitsipas. “I was able to play with a lot of intensity.”
Berrettini, ranked 16, took a grip on the high-quality match with an unanswered break in recreation seven of the primary set.
They went toe-to-toe in set two earlier than the pumped-up Greek star prevailed in a tiebreaker to take it to a 3rd set the place he floor down his tiring opponent.
Served effectively
Earlier, a composed Taylor Fritz beat Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in a battle of prime 10 gamers to energy the United States into the ultimate.
The world quantity 9 was too good for his big-serving opponent, ranked one place behind him, profitable 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5).
Fritz got here into the match with the United States already 2-0 up after Jessica Pegula shocked world primary Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-2 on Friday and Frances Tiafoe swept previous Kacper Zuk 6-3, 6-3.
His victory gave them an insurmountable lead earlier than Madison Keys made it 4-0 by beating Magda Linette 6-4, 6-2.
“I think the difference in the tiebreakers was I just served well and I put some returns in the court, played some really solid points and didn’t give him anything,” stated Fritz.
“I’m super excited going into the finals and I think we have been the favourites all week,” he stated.
Fritz earned break factors at 4-4 in set one after stepping up the strain on Hurkacz’s booming serve, however the lanky Pole saved them each and turned the tables to earn two set factors at 5-4.
But he too was denied and it went to a tiebreak, the place the American dug deep.
Nothing separated them within the second set, with Hurkacz slamming his racquet to the bottom as his frustrations grew.
It once more went to the tiebreak, the place two unforced errors from the Pole gave Fritz match level and he made no mistake.
Keys stored her unbeaten document on the match intact with a battling show in opposition to Linette.
After grinding via the primary set, she went a break down within the second however was finally too sturdy for the Forty eighth-ranked Linette.
“I feel like I’ve been playing really well on these courts and to be able to have so many matches on them already and get as comfortable as possible definitely helped me today,” stated the world quantity 11.