Jannik Sinner gave Italy the lead against Slovakia. © ANSA / ALI HAIDER
Italy meets Slovakia in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup in Bratislava. Jannik Sinner decided the first match of the duel on Friday evening in favor of the Azzurri. But it wasn’t easy against Norbert Gombos.
March 04, 2022
From: cst
The number 110 in the world demanded a lot from Sinner, but in the end had to admit defeat in three sets (6: 4, 4: 6, 6: 4). This means that Italy has a 1-0 lead in the David Cup duel with Slovakia.
Sinner started the duel with Gombos as the clear favorite, but soon had to realize that it would be anything but easy. The Slovakian, who was particularly dangerous with his strong backhand, showed a good game and hardly made any mistakes. Finally, in the fifth game, Sinner managed to win the decisive point to lead the set 1-0. As a result, the sextner had his best phase and pulled away with four aces in the 2nd set. But Gombos didn’t give up, was able to turn the game around and equalized to 1:1.
Gombos was euphoric and was spurred on by the approximately 2,000 spectators in Bratislava. Sinner struggled with his service game and also conceded a break. Gombos seemed to be on the rise, but Sinner came back. A rebreak brought the South Tyrolean back on the road to victory, and from then on there was no more weakness. However, the statistics underpin the difficulties that Sinner had with the East European. Both scored 85 points, but Sinner showed his superior class in the decisive moments.
