Italy beat Greece to set up United Cup showdown with USA despite Stefanos Tsitsipas’ victory over Matteo Berrettini

USA will face off against Italy in the United Cup final after the latter beat Greece 4-1 in an exciting semi-final.

Italy took a brisk 2-0 lead on Friday when Martina Trevisan upset world No. 6 Maria Sakkari 6-3 6-7(4) 7-5 at Ken Rosewell Arena followed by a 6-1 6-1 hammering from Lorenzo Musetti against Michalis Sakellaridis.

With Italy leading overnight, Stefanos Tsitsipas reduced the deficit to one on Saturday and gave Greece hope of clawing their way back into the tie.

The world’s fourth-ranked player beat Matteo Berrettini with a heroic effort in a two-hour and 35-minute contest.

“What a great atmosphere out here, I’m loving it,” Tsitsipas said after his match. “We won this together guys.”

“It was personally a great match, a great atmosphere,” Berrettini said. “We knew that in Australia there is a big Greek community, so we felt it yesterday obviously when the No. 1 player was playing.

“It was even bigger. It was really nice.”

Greek spirits were soon dampened when Lucia Bronzetti clinched a 6-2 6-3 win against Valentini Grammatikopoulou to send Italy to the final with a doubles match to spare.

“It was not easy, because it was the most important point,” Bronzetti said. “I felt pressure because I had to win.

“I knew that it would have been a tough match. I’m proud of myself, because I think that I had a good attitude in the court, and I also played good.”

Italy’s Camilla Rosatello and Andrea Vavassori followed up Bronzetti’s win with a routine 2-1 mixed doubles victory against Grammatikopoulou and Petros Tsitsipas.

USA made easy work of Poland with some high-profile clashes in a 5-0 win.

“I didn’t even know my first opponent I was supposed to play,” Tiafoe explained. “So when they switched it, I was, like, alright, great, I’m in the same position I was.

“It was kind of, whatever. I was just going to kind of wing it and see what happens.

“Feel the guy out a little bit and kind of see what happens. Try to just worry about my side of the court and we’ll figure it out.”

Holding onto a 2-0 lead overnight, USA secured the win in Saturday’s opening clash between Taylor Fritz and Hubert Hurkacz to avoid any slip-up, with the world No. 9 beating the world’s tenth-ranked player 7-6(5) 7-6(5) in identical sets.

Madison Keys went on to beat Magda Linette in a dead rubber fourth match before Pegula and Fritz joined forces to make it a clean sweep against Alicja Rosolska and Lukasz Kubot in mixed doubles clash.

Sunday’s final is set up nicely, with Pegula taking on Trevisan, Tiafoe facing Musetti and Fritz playing Berrettini.

Keys against Bronzetti could be a crucial clash, before Pegula and Fritz partner up again to face Trevisan and Berrettini in a mixed doubles match.