Less than a week after their meeting in the Nitto ATP Finals title match, Jannik Sinner scored swift revenge against Novak Djokovic on Saturday in the Davis Cup semi-finals.
In a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 victory, the Italian saved three match points by escaping 0/40 at 4-5 in the final set and broke immediately after to seize control of the match in Malaga. Sinner's heroics keep Italy alive in the semi-final tie after Miomir Kecmanovic opened the day's play with a 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-1 victory against Lorenzo Musetti.
A decisive doubles rubber will now determine who meets Australia in Sunday's final.
'It was a roller coaster," Sinner said of his two-hour, 35-minute victory against the World No. 1. "I was starting off really well. Second set he played much better than me. Third set I tried to serve really well, and also on match points down I served well.
"Happy to still be in the competition. We were one point away from being out. Now we have a deciding doubles. We'll have to chat [to decide] who’s going to play. We will give our best shot against them. Let’s see what’s coming."
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Sinner saved seven of nine break points in the match, including five in the final set, to keep Italy's Davis Cup dream alive. Djokovic faced just one break point across the final two sets, but Sinner claimed it in style with a forehand passing shot before confidently serving out the match.
While Djokovic found success with aggressive play in the second and third sets, he was unable to drag Sinner into a rally on his three match points. The Italian then capitalised on a brief dip from his opponent to bring up his first break point since the opening set, and he whipped a forehand down the line past a stranded Djokovic to move decisively ahead.
From 4-5, 0/40, Sinner won 13 of the match's final 16 points.
The result improved Sinner to 2-4 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head with Djokovic overall and 2-2 this season, with his previous win coming last week in the Nitto ATP Finals group stage. Their Malaga meeting was their second match this season to require a decisive set, with Sinner previously winning a third-set tie-break in Turin.