Sinner ends Djokovic’s winning streak, puts Italy in Davis Cup final

Jannik Sinner beat Novak Djokovic twice in the Davis Cup semifinals in Malaga, Spain, on Saturday, leading Italy to come back and knock out Serbia. Italy will compete in the tournament’s final for the first time since 1998.

Miomir Kecmanovic beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-1 in the first singles match to place Serbia on a 1-0 lead in Saturday’s contest. Djokovic and Sinner held each other at 1-1 after two sets in the second singles match. The Serbian superstar had three chances to finish off both Sinner and Italy in the third set, but he blew all of them and lost it 5-7 in the end.

“Personally, it’s a huge disappointment because I take the responsibility, obviously having three match balls, being so close to winning it,” Djokovic said. “When you lose for your country, the bitter feeling is even greater.”

This also ended Djokovic’s 21-match winning streak in the Davis Cup singles matches and was Sinner’s second win over him in the last three singles matches in 12 days. He paired with Kecmanovic against Sinner and Lorenzo Sonego in the following doubles match but lost 3-6 and 4-6.

“Match of my life? I don’t know, but it’s for sure very important,” Sinner said about beating Djokovic in the singles competition. “It helps a lot that the last competition of the season is a team competition because you get a lot of energy from your teammates, from the whole team, and then the crowd is different too.”

“I really enjoyed playing today. It was a great match. At the end of the match, I was really happy for the team to be at least able to play a deciding doubles (match),” Sinner added.

Italy will play Australia for the Davis Cup title on Sunday. The last time they won the honor was in 1976.