Australia and Italy will collide in the Davis Cup final on Sunday afternoon in Malaga, Spain. The second singles rubber will undoubtedly be Alex de Minaur vs. Jannik Sinner, while the other matchup is currently unclear (likely Alexei Popyrin vs. Lorenzo Sonego).
(AUS) Alexei Popyrin vs. (ITA) Lorenzo Sonego
Popyrin will probably be the choice for Australia in the opening singles rubber of the Davis Cup final against Italy on Sunday in Malaga, Spain. The world No. 40 won his match against Finland’s Otto Virtanen 7-6(5), 6-2 on Friday, when the Aussies swept their way to a 2-0 semifinal victory. That came on the heels of Jordan Thompson’s 6-4, 7-5 loss to Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Sonego should get the nod for Italy, as the second singles spot has not yet worked out for this team. Matteo Arnaldi lost to Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands in the quarters and Lorenzo Musetti fell to Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in the semis. Meanwhile, Sonego was outstanding in a pair of doubles victories with Jannik Sinner and the world No. 47 has enjoyed plenty of success on indoor hard courts in singles. Popyrin and Sonego have never faced each other, and their first meeting–if it happens–projects to be a complete toss-up. A slight edge may go to the Italian, who has been in slightly better singles form this fall and has plenty of momentum thanks to his recent doubles heroics.
Pick: Sonego in 3
(AUS) Alex de Minaur vs. (ITA) Jannik Sinner
Sinner delivered a simply heroic performance for Italy on Saturday. The Italians found themselves one point from being out of the competition when Sinner trailed Serbia’s Novak Djokovic 4-5, 0-40 in the third set of the second singles rubber. However, the 22-year-old came back from triple match point down and eventually stunned the world No. 1 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. Sinner and Sonego proceeded to defeat Djokovic and Kecmanovic 6-3, 6-4 in the decisive doubles rubber.
De Minaur has also impressed this week in Malaga. The 12th-ranked Australian is 2-0 with victories over Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic (4-6, 7-6(2), 7-5) and Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland (6-4, 6-3). Unfortunately for De Minaur, this is a terrible matchup for him. Sinner’s firepower is too much for De Minaur’s defense and it has resulted in a 5-0 record for the world No. 4. In fact, Sinner is 12-1 lifetime in total sets after most recently crushing De Minaur 6-4, 6-1 in the final of this year’s Toronto Masters. Nobody is hotter than Sinner right now, so there is no reason to think anything will change on Sunday.
Pick: Sinner in 2
who ya got?
1 week we’re talking about Novak’s next dominant five years, now Jannik alters that thinking.
Tennis is a great sport.
Do I hear Carlitos?
Yes the short-termism of sports reporting is unbelievable. Remember the Age of Alcaraz which was supposed to have begun several months ago?
Novak has still won 3 slams this year and the wtf. Also he decimated Alcaraz and Sinner in the 2 matches which really mattered.
We know that Alcaraz can win slams but we have no real idea how Sinner’s recent wins in bo3 are going to translate to bo5 in slams which is a completely different sport in some ways.
No one is better than Novak in winning bo5 even when he has been losing badly in bo3. Eg his awful run up to RG which he then won.
To win three slams a year at his age is one of the greatest sporting achievements.
Congratulations to Italy. These young players are going to make huge waves on the tour.Can’t wait!
Apparently Tennis channel is first 7 days free then 2.49 a month which you can cancel any time. Plus it seems they now cover women’s tennis as well!!!
Sounds too good to be true! But a potential life saver now Amazon have stopped.
Will definitely sign up next year.
That’s good to know. BeinSports is no longer on Foxtel and their direct streaming service isn’t the best. Will check out the Tennis Channel.
Thanks Amy.
Oh boo! Just read other comments! Too good to be true!
Yes indeed margot! How annoying!
Looks like Tennis Channel is US Only.
Disappointing!! Are you sure? I think Al watched tennis channel so maybe he can comment….
No I didnt. I thought the same about US.
Tennistv only covers the ATP and not the Slams .I like it though. Theyve got all the old matches.Im starting to watch a few from last year that I never saw.
doesn’t eurosport cover the slams?
Next Gen is now on Amazon, not sure I’m that interested. Fils is the only one I’d really noticed, a couple of more familiar others have opted out..
I watch the AO and French on eurosport.
It’s only 6.99 to watch the AO. You just pay for a month to watch Eurosport via Discovery channel. Same for RG.I just checked for 24 so at least we have that.
It has geo-blocking for anyone outside the US. Website won’t even load.
Bah humbug!!