Valentini Grammatikopoulou lost 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday to Lucia Brozetti in the 78th minute as Greece were knocked out of Italy in the United Cup semi-finals.

On Friday, Italy led Greece 2-0, but Stefanos Tsitsipas scored a point by beating Matteo Berretini 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the third game of the meeting.

Italy, which lost to Poland in the final in Brisbane City but earned a place in Sydney as the top runner-up, has seized the opportunity and tomorrow (8/1) will look to win a new Unified Cup against the USA.

With Greek women’s singles No. 2 Despina Papamichael unable to play, last-minute substitution Valentini Grammatikopoulou could be an advantage as the 25-year-old No. 199 beat Bronzetti in both of her previous encounters, between which in the final of the Vancouver event in August last year to secure the biggest title of her career.

However, Bronzetti, in top form, left no opportunity for Grammaticopoulos to react, who appeared to be surprised by her rival. The Italian, world number 54, started with two breaks in a row and closed the first set with no problem. In the second set, she led with a break (2-1), and Grammatikopoulou could not find a solution to her opponent’s serve.

Thus, Bronzetti led Italy to a third and decisive victory over Greece (3-1), qualifying for the final of the newly established competition against the USA.

Previously, Stefanos Tsitsipas had to turn around, struggled a lot, but finally managed to win after 2 hours and 35 minutes with Matteo Berettini’s 4-6,7-6,6-3 at Ken Rosewall Arena to last – as it turned out for a while – “live” Greece in the event of reaching the final of the Unified Cup was temporarily reduced to 1-2 with Italy before Bronzetti made it 1-3.

Source: RES-IPE