- Matteo Arnaldi and Jannik Sinner seal Italy’s 2-0 victory
- Victory could herald glorious era for Italian tennis
Italy fulfilled its potential as one of the most promising tennis nations in the world by defeating Australia 2-0 to become Davis Cup champions for the first time since 1976.
In the opening rubber between the second-ranked players in Málaga, 22-year-old Matteo Arnaldi edged past Alexei Popyrin 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 to give Italy the first point. Then, less than 24 hours after toppling Novak Djokovic twice in one day, Jannik Sinner again demonstrated nerves of steel as he closed off the best two weeks of his career by dominating Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-0.