Djokovic gave up 3 match points and lost to Sinner. He lost for the first time in 12 years in the Davis Cup

Djokovic gave up 3 match points and lost to Sinner. He lost for the first time in 12 years in the Davis Cup

Alexander Nasonov November 25, 2023, 20:20 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Serbia already had one foot in the final. But now everything will be decided in the doubles match.

The last Davis Cup semi-final will take place on Saturday, November 25. Of particular interest was the fight between 24-time TBS champion Novak Djokovic and world number four Jannik Sinner. In the first match of the day, Miomir Kecmanovic decisively defeated Lorenzo Musetti 6:7 (7:9), 6:2, 6:1. Therefore, Djokovic understood that his victory over Sinner would take Serbia to the final of the tournament. And how close it all was to this!

Lately, Djokovic and Sinner have faced each other regularly. In the Final Tournament group, the Italian turned out to be stronger, and in the final the Serbian took revenge. He was close to success at the reporting meeting. But it does not work.

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In the first set, Sinner managed to suppress Djokovic with his activity. The Serbian, who had never faced a break point, did not play at his best and allowed his opponent to break twice. At 5:2, the Italian served for the set: 6:2 in 38 minutes. Yannick accumulated 12 actively earned points throughout the game, and Novak only one.

In the second set, Djokovic restructured himself and began to play much more actively; As a result, Sinner’s number of errors increased considerably. The image was largely repeated, only exactly in reverse. The Serbian never allowed his opponent to break his serve and took it himself twice. In the eighth game, Novak managed to take the set with the third break point (6:2 in 43 minutes). In this game, Djokovic made only three unforced errors, while Yannick had as many as 10.

Novak Djokovic plays Jannik Sinner in the 2023 Davis Cup semi-finals

Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

In the decisive set, Djokovic, serving, took the first game to zero, and in the second, which lasted 15 minutes, he missed a break point. After the seventh “exactly”, Sinner gave the finishing touch to his opponent with two aces in a row: 1:1. Then the players continued to play their games, and the Serbian did so with more confidence, losing no more than one point per game. In the eighth game, Novak got a hidden match point, but Yannick saved (4:4).

In the ninth game, Djokovic broke serve, and in the tenth he took advantage of Sinner’s errors and reached a triple match point on the return. But he missed it: 5:5! Such an inexplicable break from Novak inspired Yannick, who paused in the eleventh game and then served for the match: 6:2, 2:6, 7:5 in 2 hours and 35 minutes.

Thus ended Djokovic’s streak of 21 consecutive victories in singles matches in the Davis Cup, which had lasted since 2011. The Serbian then lost to Juan Martín del Potro in the semifinals.

Thus, the fate of the ticket to the final will be decided in the doubles match in which the Serbian and Italian tennis players will participate. There Australia is already waiting for one of them, which turned out to be stronger than Finland in their semi-final.

The Davis Cup final will take place on Sunday, November 26. Follow all the events of the “Championship”.