The big hit will go this Thursday Argentine tennis team in his debut in the Final 8 of the Davis Cup. The team led by Guillermo Coria will seek a place in the semi-finals against Italiawhich led by a Jannik Sinner Intractable wants to take the first step towards defending the title. The strategy in choosing the players will be key in the series, given the possible presence in the Azzurri team of the number one in the world, who has just been crowned in the ATP Finals and lower the curtain on an extraordinary 2024.
The match will be played from 1:00 p.m. in Argentina, on the indoor hard court of the Martín Carpena Sports Palacefrom Malaga, after the duel between USA y Australiawhich will open the day at 10. It will be broadcast on TyC Sports.
Speculation was left floating in the air this Wednesday, after the last practice sessions of the two teams, since the captains chose – without surprising anyone – to keep the names chosen for each point until the last moment.
Sinner, who landed in Malaga on Tuesday, shortly after his undefeated consecration in the “Masters Tournament” from Turin, made good use of the day. The leader of the ranking, 23 years old and champion in 2024 in the Australian Open and the US Opentrained in double shift. First, in doubles in the company of Matteo Berrettini against the “titular” couple made up of Simone Bolelli y Andrea Vavassori; and then, in singles with Lorenzo Musetti.
Jannik’s intense day suggests that he will be one of those who will take the field to face Argentina, accompanied by Musetti as the second singles player. And then the game of possibilities that Coria must have handled to put together his team is worth it.
He Dry -who had said that he would communicate his decision to the players between Tuesday and Wednesday, but would wait until shortly before the series to make it public- has three strong singles: Sebastian Baez27th in the world; Francisco Cerúndolo30°; y Tomas Etcheverry39°.
The chances of beating Sinner on an indoor hard court are slim for any of the three. With that singles (almost) lost from the locker room, the logic would be for Báez, who can only play as No. 1, to face Sinner and bet on the second individual duel.
Because between Fran y Tomythe former has more chances on paper to surpass Musetti. The Buenos Aires native already defeated him once, this year in the final of Umag (although on brick dust); had a more successful time than the player from La Plata during the last tour of the calendar, on the indoor courts of Europe (he was a semi-finalist in Almaty and reached the quarterfinals in Belgrade); and he knows how to make Carrara uncomfortable with his aggressive tennis.
If you reach the third point with a chance of victory, everything will depend on Maximo Gonzalez (22°) y Andrés Molteni (21st), who will go against Bolelli (11th) and Vavassori (9th). The Argentines trained in the last two days with other couples in the tournament, on Tuesday with the Australians Jordan Thompson (3°) y Matthew Ebden (13th) and on Wednesday with the Americans Austin Krajicek (43°) y Rajeev Ram (30th), which gave a plus to the end of the preparation for the debut.
“As there are other countries, you have the chance to train with other couples, so it’s great because for us, getting training is often difficult. We did a good preparation and we are ready to fight,” Molteni commented.
The Argentine duo recently defeated Bolelli and Vavassori, in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 in Shanghaiin which they reached the final. This year they also played two other duels on clay, in the second round of Monte Carlo (with victory for the Europeans) and in the debut of Barcelona (with celebration albiceleste).
It will be the sixth time in Davis Cup history that Argentina will clash with Italy. The Azzurri lead the history by 3 to 2. The last duel was in the group stage of the End of 2022 in Bologna, with a 2 to 1 celebration of the Europeans.
The winner of this series will clash in the semis with the winner of the one between the United States and Australia, finalist in the last edition. Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, they will be measured Netherlandswhich on Tuesday surprised Spain and sentenced the end of the career of Rafael Nadaly Germanywhich beat this Wednesday by 2 to 0 Canadachampion in 2022.