With Greece’s No.2 WTA player Despina Papamichail unable to play, the last-minute substitution of Valentini Grammatikopoulou could have been an advantage. The No.199-ranked 25-year-old had beaten Bronzetti in both of their previous meetings, including in the final of last August’s Vancouver 125 event to seal the biggest title of her career.
However Bronzetti overwhelmed Grammatikopoulou with depth and changes of direction. The Greek player committed 15 errors to only three winners in a nervy first set.
Grammatikopoulou settled to make the second a closer contest, pounding away several sharp forehand winners. But Bronzetti responded by raising her own level, breaking in the third game after an off forehand winner followed by a dead net cord. A series of terrific passing shots helped her maintain her lead through to the finish, and an errant Grammatikopoulou drive volley sealed the Italian’s first match point.
Earlier, it had appeared Matteo Berrettini would seal Italy’s place in the final, but Tsitsipas refused to allow that to happen.
Meanwhile, Maria Sakkari’s early horror show turned into a bona fide thriller on Friday, but there’d be no happy ending for Greece who trailed 2-0 after the first night of their United Cup semi-final against Italy.
With a mismatch between world No.803 Stefanos Sakellaridis and Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti (No.23) to follow, the Greek team would have been banking on a Sakkari win to keep them well-placed in the contest.
But Martina Trevisan hadn’t read that script, edging the visibly frustrated Sakkari 6-3 6-7 (7-5) 7-5 in a three-hour and 15-minute epic.
The world No.6 went in as a warm favourite in Sydney, having not dropped a set during her three singles wins to start the competition.
Trevisan, the world No.27, had been patchy at best with only one, three-set win.
But form went out the window, often along with Sakkari’s groundstrokes.
Trevisan broke Sakkari in her opening service game and ultimately established a 4-2 lead.
Some 22 unforced errors flowed from Sakkari’s racquet in the first set, including a diabolical ninth game where she netted a backhand, struck a ball long, double-faulted and missed a regulation volley to enable her opponent to draw first blood.
The rot continued in the second as Trevisan took a 2-0 lead before the two-time grand slam semi-finalist suddenly started to get her game together.
Sakkari broke back and pushed ahead with another in the seventh game, ultimately serving for the set at 5-4.
But Trevisan flipped the script again, snatching the break back to level the contest.
The key moment in the tiebreak came at 4-4, Trevisan dominating the rally only for Sakkari to pull out a superb slapped forehand on defence to win the point.
While she levelled the match, Sakkari struggled to kick on in the third, a net cord giving Trevisan the break for 3-2.
The ever-smiling Italian couldn’t hold that one but broke Sakkari in the 11th game before serving out the match.
A routine 6-1 6-1 win followed for Musetti, handing Italy a major advantage heading into day two.
Musetti said he wasn’t at his best despite the easy win, saying the tense women’s match played its part.
“For me it was very stressful. I was watching her on TV and I warmed up like seven times,” he said.
“I was so happy in the end because she fought really well and deserved the win.”
With AAP