Berrettini gives Italy the lead against Belgium in their Davis Cup semifinal
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11:12 AM on Friday, November 21
The Associated Press
BOLOGNA, Italy (AP) — Matteo Berrettini beat Raphael Collignon 6-3, 6-4 to give two-time defending champion Italy the lead against Belgium in their Davis Cup semifinal on Friday.
The No. 56-ranked Berrettini, a 2021 Wimbledon runner-up with 10 singles titles on the tour, clinched the first set on serve against No. 86 Collignon.
Collignon dropped his opening serve of the second set but he broke back for 2-2. Berrettini withstood aggressive shot-making to break for 4-3 and won on his first match point with a love hold.
Later Friday, No. 22 Flavio Cobolli faced No. 43 Zizou Bergs in the second singles in the Italian city of Bologna. Neither Belgian has won a singles title on the men's tour.
Italy or Belgium meets the winner of Saturday's semifinal between Germany and Spain.
Italy was without No. 2-ranked Jannik Sinner. The four-time Grand Slam champion, who led Italy to the titles in 2023 and 2024, opted to sit out. He retained the ATP Finals title on Sunday, beating No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
Six-time major winner Alcaraz sustained a right hamstring injury in that match and then pulled out of Davis Cup action.
The Davis Cup Final 8 is the sixth edition of the revamped event that has the champion decided at a neutral site. ___
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
