Italy marched into the Davis Cup semifinals to face Belgium after sweeping both of Wednesday’s singles matches against Austria before a roaring Bologna crowd.
Despite missing headline players Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti, Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli delivered composed straight-set wins that underlined the Azzurri’s depth and confidence on home soil.
Berrettini – last year’s Davis Cup hero and a former Wimbledon finalist – set the tone with a commanding 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Jurij Rodionov, wrapping up the match in 1 hour, 35 minutes.
Berrettini went down 5-2 in the second set, which was interrupted for half an hour because of a lighting problem in the arena.
But the injury-prone 29-year-old rattled off three games, saving three set points to draw level at 5-5 before going on to win the tiebreaker and put Italy ahead in the tie.
“I’m really proud of how the boys managed the two matches,” team captain Filippo Volandri said.
“It’s not news that Matteo has this character. He’s made to play in these competitions, to find solutions in difficult moments.”
Cobolli, ranked No. 22 in the world, made short work of Filip Misolic, beating Austria’s highest-ranked player 6-1, 6-3 to secure Italy a spot in the final four.
The 23-year-old, who won his first titles in Hamburg and Bucharest this year, breezed past Misolic in a little more than an hour to the delight of most of the 10,000 fans in northern Italy.
“It’s definitely the best day of my life,” Cobolli said. “I’ve always dreamed of wearing this jersey and playing for Italy, for the lads over there – my teammates – my family and my team.”
With Italy winning both singles matches, Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori did not play their doubles match against Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler.
The semifinal lineup will be completed Thursday when Argentina face Germany and Spain take on the Czech Republic without world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, who withdrew Tuesday with a hamstring injury.
