United Cup, Italy overwhelmed in mixed doubles: Germany wins

United Cup: Italy-Germany 1-2

Bitter debut for Italy in the United Cup. The Azzurri national team, after taking the lead thanks to Jasmine Paolini’s victory over Angelique Kerber, suffered a comeback by Germany in the men’s singles and mixed doubles winning 2-1.

In the first singles, Jasmine Paolini, No. 30 WTA, beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber, who made her return to the circuit after an 18-month maternity leave, 6-4 7-5 in one hour and 48 minutes of play. The Italian tennis player, after winning a tough first set, had to deal with a severe cramping problem at 3-2 in the second set. After the medical timeout, the Italian è managed to regain her game by closing the score on 7-5. 

No dice, however, for Lorenzo Sonego, who, after a nearly three-hour battle, è was forced to surrender to world No. 7 Alexander Zverev with a score of 6-7 6-3 6-4. The first set è was characterized by much balance. In the decisive tie-break, on the score of 5-5 the Italian player è managed to be more brilliant, managing to snatch a set from the German for the first time in his career. In the next two sets, Sascha maintained a consistent performance and combined with several errors on serve by Sonego è managed to bring the match back to even;.

Less tightly contested than expected, however, was the mixed doubles, with Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber handing a clear 6-3 6-0 victory to the Sonego-Moratelli duo in one hour and four minutes. After a good start by the Azzurri, the two German players managed to impose their own rhythm by winning as many as 11 consecutive games.