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
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