Thanasi Kokkinakis upped his game at the Davis Cup 2024 Finals. In the quarterfinals, Kokkinakis helped Australia defeat the United States after pulling off a largely unexpected win against Ben Shelton in their singles match. The match went right down to the wire as Kokkinakis survived four match points to clinch the third set, 16-14, in what proved to be a thrilling tiebreak.
On Saturday, Kokkinakis was given the uphill task of playing the first singles match in the semifinals against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini. The Australian youngster was challenged by the 2021 Wimbledon finalist in the first set, and he had to play another nerve-wracking tiebreak.
The situation got dire as Kokkinakis threw away three set points against Berrettini. However, he went back to the basics just in the nick of time and did what he does best. He came up with the big serves, which not many have a response to.
Kokkinakis managed to pull off the tiebreak 8-6 against a crowd that was in full support of Italy and Berrettini. Like Shelton, Berrettini has the ability to come up with good serves, which made the matchup quite a fascinating one. In the battle of power and resilience, it seemed that Kokkinakis would make the most of having an early advantage, which could have bolstered Australia’s chances of knocking the defending champions out of the tournament.
Out of nowhere #DavisCup | @TKokkinakis pic.twitter.com/ODPaLSIKDJ
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) November 23, 2024
Before coming into the Davis Cup 2024 Finals, Kokkinakis played an ATP Challenger event back home in Sydney. He made it to the finals, losing to Rinky Hijikata. On the road to the final, he beat Philip Sekulic in the Round of 16 and Tristan Schoolkate in the semifinals.
In both those matches, he won the tiebreaks as well. Prior to that, Kokkinakis caused an upset at the US Open, defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round. What helped him do that was to win the first set tiebreak, 7-6 (7-5).
So the win against Berrettini was his 5th tiebreak win in a row across all men’s singles matches. Is this just a coincidence, or has Kokkinakis worked on something specific in his game along with his coaching team to bring in that X-factor to win in high-pressure points?
It is still a work in progress as Kokkinakis was beaten by Berrettini in the next two sets, 6-3, 7-5. Overall, in his career so far, Kokkinakis has a record of 60-57 on the ATP Tour when it comes to winning tiebreaks. While on the Challenger Tour, he has a similar W-L difference at 33-30.
It remains to be seen if Kokkinakis gets a chance to play again in the Davis Cup 2024 Finals. A lot depends on Alex de Minaur to overcome his big nemesis and World No.1 Jannik Sinner in the following match. Fans in the United States can catch all the action LIVE on Tennis Channel or Fubo TV.
