Berrettini's Double Duty Powers Italy Past Thiem & Austria

Matteo Berrettini did double duty on Tuesday in Melbourne to help Italy defeat Austria 2-1 in Group C action at the ATP Cup.

The Italian earned a statement victory against World No. 3 Dominic Thiem 6-2, 6-4, and then returned to John Cain Arena alongside Fabio Fognini to beat Thiem and Dennis Novak 6-1, 6-4 in the deciding doubles match.

The pressure was on Berrettini after World No. 100 Novak handed Austria a 1-0 lead with an impressive win of his own against Fognini. The Italian No. 1 had to triumph to give his country a chance in the tie, and he delivered in a big way, doing almost nothing wrong in two stunning performances.

"I'm very happy obviously for myself, but in this competition we're playing for a team, so it's really nice," Berrettini said in his on-court interview after his singles match. "I'm really happy with my performance."

Berrettini never gave Thiem and his big-swinging game a chance to get going. The Italian maintained his ground on the baseline and went after the ball as soon as possible in rallies to win after one hour and 21 minutes.

The big-hitting World No. 10 did not play his best tennis in 2020, going 9-6. But Berrettini declared his 2021 intentions in a big way inside John Cain Arena, hammering away to claim a resounding victory against the reigning US Open champion, despite a late charge from the Austrian. 

Berrettini now leads their ATP Head2Head series 3-2, including wins in three of their four hard-court clashes. This was the 24-year-old's first Top 10 victory since the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals, where he also defeated Thiem.

"It was really sad last year [to miss the ATP Cup], unfortunately I was injured. I saw the atmosphere in all the cities in Australia. It was a great event," Berrettini said. "This year I wanted to be here. Playing for your country is something special." 

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Thiem battled hard until the end, flicking a backhand lob for a winner to reclaim one service break in the second set. He then held a 15/30 lead as Berrettini served for the match, but it was too late for the Austrian, who missed a backhand in the match to end the battle.

All four players who competed in singles in this tie then returned to the court to decide who would move to 1-0 in Group C action. It was Berrettini and Fognini's doubles experience that proved key.

"I think we played a good match for sure," Fognini said. "He played amazing in singles. Without his victory, we are not here to discuss our victory in doubles."

The Italians have previously won an ATP Tour doubles title together at 2018 St. Petersburg, and it showed. Berrettini and Fognini moved around the court in unison, covered each other seamlessly and appeared the more comfortable duo at the net. 

Novak and Thiem settled down in the second set after a nervous opener, but the Italians were simply too good. At 3-3, 40/40, they retrieved three Austrian overheads and a swinging volley before turning the tide in the point. Fognini finished it off with a reflexed forehand volley winner, and that was the only edge they needed to clinch the tie.

Earlier Tuesday, Novak earned one of the biggest wins of his career, defeating Fognini 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 2 singles match to give Austria its lone win of the day.

One year ago, the 27-year-old Novak played three three-setters in this event, losing two of those clashes. But the World No. 100 wasted no time putting his country ahead, upsetting the World No. 17 after one hour and 12 minutes behind exemplary aggression and net play.

"It was a long wait for today. I've practised since the beginning of December already, so I was really looking forward to today," Novak said in his on-court interview. "I was nervous, didn't sleep that well. I think you could see that in my first service game. I [gave] a really easy break, but then I tried to fight in the game and then I played pretty solid." 

In the very early stages of the match, it appeared Fognini, who is the fourth-highest-ranked No. 2 singles player in the competition, was firing on all cylinders. The nine-time ATP Tour titlist broke the Austrian’s serve in the first game and quickly earned a 30/0 advantage in his first service game.

But the unforced errors began to add up for the Italian, who was broken for 1-1. Once he let slip his early advantage, the tone of the match changed. Novak played aggressively and sprinted into net on numerous occasions, while Fognini was unable to find his rhythm from the baseline.

"Of course it's never easy to play Fabio. You never know what's coming," Novak said. "I was focussing on myself and I think I did a good job."

The Italian star, who cracked the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings in 2019, was under pressure throughout the match. When Fognini tried to go for his shots to turn the tide, he often missed the mark, making 38 unforced errors. Novak, who only struck 13 unforced errors, continued to unleash big forehand returns to maintain the pressure. The Austrian broke serve four times in his victory.