Berrettini gives Italy perfect start against Croatia

Italy’s Matteo Berrettini celebrates winning his match against Croatia’s Borna Coric during their Davis Cup, Group A, clash at Unipol Arena, Bologna, Italy, yesterday. (Reuters)

• France and Germany’s Group C tie goes to a deciding doubles rubber in Hamburg

Lorenzo Musetti and Matteo Berrettini gave Italy the perfect start to their Davis Cup group stage campaign yesterday with victory over Croatia in Bologna. The 20-year-old Musetti saw off Borna Gojo 6-4, 6-2 in the first rubber of the best-of-three Group A tie. Former Wimbledon runner-up Berrettini had to fight back from a set down against Cincinnati Masters champion Borna Coric, but won 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-1. Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini will take on Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the closing doubles match. Italy have high hopes of claiming only a second Davis Cup title and first since 1976. Their top-ranked player Jannik Sinner could yet be ready to play against Argentina tomorrow. Elsewhere yesterday, France and Germany’s Group C tie went to a deciding doubles rubber in Hamburg. Jan-Lennard Struff beat Benjamin Bonzi 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 to give the home team the lead, before Adrian Mannarino levelled with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Oscar Otte. Also yesterday, Albert Ramos-Vinolas survived a bruising encounter against Laslo Djere to win 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 in two hours and 54 minutes to put Spain in front in their opening tie of Group B at the 2022 Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals. The Serbian had the much brighter start. A vocal crowd was willing Ramos-Vinolas on in the opening set, but he simply couldn’t make a dent on the scoreboard. Despite hitting 81% of his first serves, Ramos was only able to hold once in his first three service games. Djere, on the other hand, was near faultless. The Serbian needed just 33 minutes to take the opening set after Ramos-Vinolas netted a routine backhand as the unforced error count kept mounting for the Spaniard. Other than the appearance of the new face of Spanish tennis Carlos Alcaraz during the national anthems prior to the start of play, the near-capacity crowd in Valencia didn’t have much to cheer about, but the roof was raised when Ramos finally broke in the second game of the second set. Even that wasn’t easy. The Spaniard needed three break points to move 2-0 up but the joy was short-lived. Djere broke back immediately to silence the home fans, who only moments before had started a chant of “España!”. The rest of the second set was dominated by long games, with rallies regularly extending over 15 or 20 shots as both players refused to budge. At 15-40 down in the seventh game of the second set, Ramos raised his level, saving two break points to go ahead 4-3. “I was missing when I was trying to defend and then, with the crowd and the help of the captain, I started to play a little bit better,” said Ramos-Vinolas But neither player could make further inroads as the set extended beyond the hour mark and a tiebreak seemed inevitable. Ramos-Vinolas rode his luck thanks to a net cord early in the breaker but played a beautiful forehand down the line winner to bring up two set points at 6-4. With the match clock nearing two hours, the Spaniard finally clinched the second set after Djere fired a forehand wide of the mark. There was more disappointment to come for Djere. The Serbian bounced back from the tiebreak, racing into a 3-0 lead, but in the fifth game he appeared to tweak his left hamstring and that let Ramos back in. Despite his movement being visibly hindered, Djere fought until the end, taking more risks to keep points short and pulling out huge first serves whenever he needed them, but when he netted a simple forehand at 30-40 down in the 11th game he handed Ramos-Vinolas a pivotal break, which he backed up by serving out the match to love.