Davis Cup, Italy beats Brazil: Matteo Arnaldi’s winning marathon decisive
Davis Cup: Italy-Brazil 2-0
With more effort than expected Italy beat Brazil on the first day of the Davis Cup group stage. After Matteo Berrettini's victory over Joao Fonseca, Matteo Arnaldi's success with Thiago Monteiro was decisive, defeated with a final score of 7-5 6-7 7-6 after a marathon of almost four hours of play.
In the first set both players conceded little on serve. The three-break seems soì the natural epilogue but in the twelfth game Arnaldi places the surgical break that is worth the first set (7-5).
In the second set, the balance is broken in the sixth game: Arnaldi takes away Monteiro’s serve (4-2) and confirms the lead (5-2). Called upon to serve for the match, on 5-3, the Ligurian però trembles: the Brazilian recovers the break disadvantage, ties at 5-5 and drags the set to the three-break that he makes his own for 7 points to 4.
In the third and decisive set Monteiro gets off to a better start but Arnaldi holds on and remains attached in the score. In the seventh game the Azure gets three break points but the Brazilian saves. It comes again to the tie-break: Arnaldi goes up 3-0, Monteiro recovers it at 4-4, but the Ligurian manages to close for 7-5.
To close the day the doubles, irrelevant for the result, where it will be Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli’s turn opposing Rafel Matos and Marcel Melo.
