Last year’s Roland Garros semifinalist Martina Trevisan and Lorenzo Musetti gave Italy a 2-0 lead over Norway on Day 5 of the United Cup with tight wins.
World number 27 Martina Trevisan battled past world number 321 Malene Helgo 7-5 3-6 6-4 in 3 hours and 2 minutes.
Malene Helgo built a 5-2 lead over Trevisan in the women’s singles match. Trevisan fended off two set points en route to winning five consecutive games to seal the first set 7-5.
Helgo earned an early break in the second game to take a 3-0 lead in the second set. Trevisan converted her second break-back point in the fifth game and held her service game to draw level to 3-3. Helgo earned her second break on her third opportunity in the eighth game to take the second set 6-3. Helgo came back from 1-4 down to draw level to 4-4 before Trevisan earned the decisive break to clinch a hard-fought third set 6-4.
Helgo made her WTA Tour debut in her opening loss against Beatriz Haddad Maia at this edition of the United Cup.
“It was a very hard match. I had never played against Helgo. My teammates gave me a lot of energy during the match”, said Trevisan.
Musetti edged past world number 343 Viktor Durasovic 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 after 1 hour and 50 minutes.
The first set went on serve until 3-3. Musetti wasted a break point in the seventh game and three more opportunities in the ninth game. Musetti broke serve at love in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead. Durasovic saved three set points before breaking back to force the first set to the tie-break. Musetti earned a 6-4 lead but he missed two set points. Musetti saved a set point at 6-7 and won three consecutive points to seal the tie-break 9-7 on his sixth opportunity.
Musetti won 12 of the first 16 points at the start of the second set to open up a 3-0 lead with a break in the second game. Musetti wasted two break points in the sixth game and a match point in the eighth game but he closed out the second set 6-3 in the ninth game after 43 minutes.
Musetti converted two of of his ten break points and dropped his serve once.
Matteo Berrettini has the chance to clinch the tie and the first place for Italy when he plays against last year’s Nitto ATP Finals runner-up Casper Ruud.
Ruud leads 4-2 in his previous six head-to-head matches against Berrettini.
Italy needs a win over Norway to advance to the City Finals in Brisbane, after Norway beats Brazil 3-2. If Norway manages to take a come-back win over number 5 seeds Italy, Brazil will finish at the top of Group E and advance to the City Finals.
