Monday, November 29, 2021

Croatia defeats Italy in Davis Cup quarterfinals

Italian star Jannik Sinner, serving in Indian Wells last month, won in singles
but lost in doubles today against Croatia. Photo by Paul Bauman 
   Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, the top doubles team in the world, lifted Croatia to a 2-1 victory over Italy today in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.
   Mektic and Pavic, this year's Wimbledon champions, defeated Fabio Fognini and Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-4 in the deciding match in Turin, Italy. 
   Borna Gojo, the 2018 NCAA singles runner-up while at Wake Forest, had beaten Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-2 to give Croatia, the Davis Cup champion that year, a 1-0 lead. 
   Jannik Sinner, ranked No. 10 at age 20, made it 1-1 with a 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open titlist.
   Sinner reached the second round of the 2019 Aptos (Calif.) Challenger at 17 after winning the Lexington (Ky.) Challenger the previous week.
   Italy played without seventh-ranked Matteo Berrettini (abdominal muscle), and Croatia is missing former world No. 12 Borna Coric (shoulder surgery).
   Croatia will face either Serbia, featuring Novak Djokovic, or Kazakhstan. In the other quarterfinals:
   —The Russian Tennis Federation, with U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev, will meet Sweden, including Andre Goransson (University of California, Berkeley, 2011-14).
   —Germany, minus Olympic gold medalist Alexander Zverev, will play 2015 champion Great Britain, led by Indian Wells champion Cameron Norrie, who won Tiburon and Stockton back-to-back in 2018 Northern California Challengers.
   Juniors — No. 9 seed Daria Smetannikov of Morganville, N.J., beat unseeded Gayathri Krishnan of Cupertino, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-1 to win the girls 18-and-under title in the USTA National Indoor Championships in Indianapolis.
   In Bradenton, Fla., No. 14 seed Alexis Blokhina, a Stanford commit from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., outlasted Kayla Cross of Canada 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the 18s in the Eddie Herr International Championships.

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