BOLOGNA, Italy (AP) — Matteo Berrettini beat Jurij Rodionov 6-3, 7-6 (4) to put defending two-time champion Italy 1-0 ahead of Austria in their Davis Cup quarterfinal on Wednesday.
Berrettini was 5-2 down in the second set before coming back with a break in ninth game. He saved three set points against his 177th-ranked opponent in the following game and prevailed in the tiebreaker by converting his first match point.
Italy's Flavio Cobolli will face Filip Misolic in the second singles, as Austria tries to force a deciding doubles match.
Top-ranked Italy is seeking the third straight title and fourth overall. The winner of the tie will face Belgium in the semifinals on Friday.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Jannik Sinner, who led Italy to titles in 2023 and 2024, opted to sit out the Davis Cup final this season.
Austria, ranked No. 12, has only beaten Italy once in their previous six encounters — in the 1990 quarterfinals in Vienna, its best result in the team competition.
Recommended for you
The Davis Cup Final 8 in Bologna is the sixth edition of the revamped event that has the champion decided at a neutral site.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.