Berrettini after his victory over Kokkinakis: "I kept on fighting".
Matteo Berrettini gets Italy off to a flying start. Preferred to Lorenzo Musetti for the first match of the Davis Cup semi-final against Australia, the tall waiter got the job done.
Despite a poor start against Thanasi Kokkinakis, the 28-year-old eventually prevailed (6-7[6], 6-3, 7-5) to give his team the lead.
On court just moments after his win, the Italian responded to his excellent performance of the day, particularly on serve (14 aces, only two break points conceded).
"Thanasi is a talented player. When you play for your country, you give your all every time. He's a difficult player to play against.
After losing the first set, it was hard to adapt. But I kept on fighting and I'm happy with the result.
It feels like we're playing in Italy, it's incredible. I'm sure that not all the spectators are Italian.
When you're playing against such a tough opponent and the match is so beautiful, people support both of us.
I love this atmosphere, I love playing Davis Cup. I'm looking forward to playing even more matches in this competition in the years to come."