Who are the Azzurri’s opponents?
Italy’s opponents in the quarter-finals are Austria, ranked 12th in the world and captained by former n. 8 Jurgen Melzer. He never won the Davis Cup. Its best result was achieved in the semifinals in 1990 when it was beaten 3-2 by the United States. They reached the Final Eight thanks to a clear home win (4-0) in the first round against Finland and a 2-3 away win in Hungary in the second round. The key person in September in Debrecen is Yuri RodionovN. World number 177, who surprisingly beat Fabian Marozsan first and then, in the decider, Marton Fucsovics. Rodionov, 26 years old, n. 2 on the team (no. 177), he was most no. 87 (as of February 2024) and has never won an ATP title. He boasts 12 trophies at Challenger level and only once has he reached the second round of a Slam, at Roland Garros 2020. He is a likely opponent for Berrettini, who has never faced him before. If Volandri chooses Sonego as his second singles player, he would go 1-0 up in straight matches with a precedent dating back to 2018: a 6-1, 6-4 win in the second qualifying round of the Kitzbuhel tournament. No. 1 is Filip Misolic24 years old, who just achieved the best ranking of his career: n. 79. Misolic, like Rodionov, has never won an ATP title. He reached and lost one final, at the 250 final in Kitzbuhel 2022 where he was defeated (6-2, 6-2) by Spaniard Bautista Agut. He has won 6 Challenger titles and in the Slams he achieved his best result of the year by reaching the third round at Roland Garros. He will challenge our no. 1, Flavio Cobolliwith whom he drew 1-1 in the previous match. Successful 6-4, 6-0 on hard courts in the quarter-finals of the 2020 ITF tournament in Antalya and then beaten 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 on clay this year in the quarter-finals in Bucharest.
