Saturday 23rd November will see the second semi-final of the Davis Cup tournament, when favorites and defending champions Italy take on 28 times Davis Cup champions Australia.
Italy are big favorites to reclaim the Davis Cup title, even more so after the exits of the Spanish and the US team in the quarter-finals. Team Italy took a solid 2-1 victory against Argentina and it was of course World no 1 Jannik Sinner that was the leader with a singles win as well as the decisive doubles win together with Matteo Berrettini.
“I’m here trying to do the best I can in the singles. If they put me on the court in doubles, I’ll also try my best.” commented Sinner after the quarter-final.
Up next, in a fight to reach the final in the weekend, is Australia, who impressed by eliminating the strong American team in the quarters.
Repeat of last year’s final
These two nations met in the last year’s final when Italy won 2-0. Can Australia get revenge this year?
Well, they looked solid against USA and they might have to step it up even further vs Sinner and co.
Thanasi Kokkinakis had a great day defeating Ben Shelton in the first singles match and together with the strong doubles pairing of Matthew Ebden and Jordan Thompson (who defeated Shelton/Paul 6-4, 6-4) that was enough to clinch the overall 2-1 win for Australia.
“I don’t know if I’ve been that pumped up in my life, I wanted that one bad, I wanted to help my team,” said Kokkinakis.
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Singles Matches, Italy vs Australia
Jannik Sinner (Italy) vs Alex de Minaur (Australia)
Looking at the history and previous meeting between these two, it does not look like we have an even and exciting match ahead of us. Sinner won all of their eight meetings and only lost a set against the Australian. In the most recent clash, he past quite easily with 6-3, 6-4 at the ATP Finals.
De Minaur is not even in very good form so we can’t see any other outcome than another Sinner victory here.
Matteo Berrettini (Italy) vs Thanasi Kokkinakis (Australia)
We would think Berrettini gets the chance here instead of Musetti, looking at recent performances, but we’ll have to see the decision from team captain Filippo Volandri. That would be the first meeting between Berrettini and Kokkinakis, two players with great talent but also a lot of injury problems in the past.
The Italian is 30-12 for the season and he has a much better record on indoor hard-court than his opponent. His serve and strong forehand alone makes him a big threat on this surface.
We’ll give Berrettini a small edge here, and the Italians might need a win here to reach the final… I think they would prefer not having a decisive doubles match against doubles specialists Ebden / Thompson.
Odds and Predictions
A win for Italy gives 1.33 | -300 and an Australian win pays 3.55 | +250 at the moment.
We’ll go for a 2-0 win for Italy, with two singles wins. With a doubles decider, Australia would have a good chance for an upset here though.
Check our betting page if you’d like to place a bet on the semi-final.
