Argentina’s Davis Cup team fell to Italy 2-1 today in their second Group A series of the 2022 Finals. With this result, the cast commanded by Guillermo Coria complicated their chances of advancing to the final instance of the contest. In the first point, played at the Unipol Arena in Bologna, Sebastián Báez (37th) could not cope with the powerful right and the good service of Matteo Berrettini (15th) and fell 6-2 and 6-3 after an hour and 11 minutes of play.
In the second duel of the series, the captain of the team, Guillermo Coria decided to send Francisco Cerúndolo to the court, who made his debut in the contest. The current number 27 in the ATP world rankings faced the first Italian racket, Jannik Sinner (11th) with good drive and backhand shots, but lost 7-5, 1-6 and 6-3 after two hours and 37 minutes. As in the clash against Sweden, the only point of the Argentine cast came thanks to the doubles. In this case, the national pair formed by Horacio Zeballos (11th in the modality) and Máximo González (51st) won against the Italians Fabio Fognini (28th) and Simone Bolelli (23rd) by 7-5, 2-6 and 6-3 in a match that lasted two hours and 21 minutes. Argentina have little chance of advancing to the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup, which will be played in Malaga between November 23 and 27, as they accumulated their second consecutive defeat in their zone. To aspire to the second place in Group A, the national team must beat Croatia this Saturday and in turn hope that Italy wins on Sunday against Sweden.
