Defending champions Italy advanced to the Davis Cup semifinals on Thursday after defeating Argentina 2-1, with world No 1 Jannik Sinner winning the singles and doubles match.
In the first game of the Davis Cup last 8 tie, Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo defeated Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-1 to give Argentina 1-0. With Italy losing the first game of the tie, all eyes were on Sinner and he got a dominating victory over 23-year-old Sebastian Baez and brought Italy on level 1-1.
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The double clash proved to be the deciding match; Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner defeated Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni of Argentina 6-4, 7-5, to advance Italy to the semifinals.
In another match of the day, Australia defeated the USA 2-1 as Matthew Edben and Jordan Thompson defeated Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton of the USA in a decisive doubles match.
Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated Ben Shelton 1-6, 6-4, 6-7 (14-16) in the first three-set thriller. The two played a long tiebreaker in the final set, which the Australians ultimately won to take a 1-0 lead.
In the second tie of the game, Taylor Fritz gave a much-needed win for United States and levelled the contest with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Alex de Minaur in just 69 minutes.
US Captain Bob Bryan made an intriguing substitution in the final game of the match by starting Shelton and Tommy Paul instead of Rajeev Ram and Asutin Krajicek. Thompson and Edben ultimately won the set 6-4, 6-4.
Australia will now play Italy on Saturday in the Davis Cup semifinals.
