A dominant Jannik Sinner outclassed Australia’s Alex de Minaur to help Italy secure their first Davis Cup title for 47 years.
Matteo Arnaldi beat Alexei Popyrin 7-5 2-6 6-4 in a nervy opening singles match to put Italy 1-0 up in Malaga, Spain.
Sinner then backed up his sterling week with a 6-3 6-0 win over De Minaur.
It is the second time Italy have lifted the Davis Cup, having previously won the title in 1976.
There were scenes of jubilation as the Italy team flooded on the court to celebrate with Sinner, who raised his arms in the air after De Minaur’s backhand skewed wide to ensure victory.
Australia were bidding for a 29th Davis Cup title but have now lost back-to-back finals, having been beaten by Canada last year.
Italy arrived for the final eight with some expectation around them, largely thanks to Sinner’s stellar form.
The 22-year-old has lost just three of his past 23 matches, winning titles in Montpellier, Toronto, Beijing and Vienna, and beat world number one Novak Djokovic in the ATP Finals round-robin stages.
World number four, Sinner, had already starred for Italy on Saturday, saving three match points against Djokovic to level the tie against Serbia before partnering Lorenzo Sonego to victory in the doubles to book Italy’s final spot.
“We kept everything together. Yesterday, we were one point from being out and now we can celebrate the win. I think we can all be very, very happy,” said Sinner.
Sinner set out his intentions early against De Minaur, breaking in the third game before converting his second set point when the Australian overhit a lob.
A ruthless performance in the second set gave De Minaur no hope of a comeback as he struggled on serve, while Sinner reveled in the support from a raucous crowd.
It was a relentless performance from Sinner, who faced just one break point in the match and converted five of his own 10 opportunities.
Arnaldi had got Italy off to a dream start against Popyrin in a tense first singles match. — BBC
