MALAGA, Spain — Novak Djokovic became the most successful Serbian player in the history of the Davis Cup as he took his nation to the semi-finals for the second time in three years with his 21st straight singles victory.
The top-ranked Djokovic beat Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4 to give Serbia a 2-0 victory over Great Britain and set up a last-four encounter with Italy on Saturday in the top team event in men’s tennis.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner won his singles match and paired up with Lorenzo Sonego to claim a doubles victory as the former champions beat the Netherlands 2-1 to book their place in the Davis Cup semi-finals.
Sinner and Sonego overcame the duo of Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-3 6-4 as Italy reached back-to-back semi-finals in the premier men’s team competition for the first time since three successive last-four appearances in 1996-98.
Italy rallied to a 2-1 win to reach the last-four for the second straight season. Without Sinner, the Italians were eliminated by eventual champion Canada last year.
The Netherlands got the first point when Botic van de Zandschulp saved two match points to beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (6) 6-3 7-6 (7) in a thrilling opening singles that lasted nearly 3 hours.
The fourth-ranked Sinner beat Tallon Griekspoor 7-6 (3) 6-1 to make it 1-1 and then, along with Sonego, defeated Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-3, 6-4 in the decisive doubles.
The 22-year-old Sinner was coming off a runner-up finish to Novak Djokovic in the ATP Finals last week.
The Italians won their lone Davis Cup title in 1976, and will be seeking a first final appearance since 1998. Italy has reached seven semifinals this century.
The Netherlands, in the quarter-finals for the second consecutive year, was trying to match its best-ever performance from a semi-final appearance in 2001.
Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic is not ready to start letting down just yet.
The top-ranked Djokovic wants to keep his momentum going for one last week and cap a great season in style with the Davis Cup title.
“It´s the last week of the season so one final push is necessary from each one of us, and I´m excited because I have been playing some really good tennis, particularly in the last four months,” said Djokovic, who won a record-breaking seventh ATP Finals title on Sunday.
“I couldn´t be happier with the way I performed in the semifinals and finals of Torino, so hopefully I´m carrying this kind of energy and performance level to the Davis Cup,” he said.
Djokovic flew to Malaga shortly after his win in Turin to start preparing for the Davis Cup.
“I came the next day. I got a day and a half of rest and I started training right away, because obviously there is not much time to really leave the racket aside,” he said. “Davis Cup has been and is one of my greatest goals of this season and always is. Hopefully I will be able to contribute to win.”
Djokovic is on a 20-match winning streak in Davis Cup singles, going back to a loss via retirement to Juan Martin del Potro in Serbia´s 2011 semi-final loss to Argentina. Djokovic’s last loss in a completed Davis Cup singles match was in 2009.
He is tied with Nenad Zimonjic at the top of the list for most Davis Cup match-wins by a Serbian player.
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