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• Sinner and Berrettini send defending champions Italy into Davis Cup final

  Jannik Sinner's victory over Alex de Minaur clinched Italy's place in another Davis Cup final, with Matteo Berrettini also victorious as the defending champions beat Australia 2-0.

  Italy won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1976 last year, and they will have an opportunity to defend their crown against the Netherlands on Sunday.

  Former Wimbledon finalist Berrettini got the ball rolling with an entertaining 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 7-5 victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis, not surrendering a break after losing the opener in a tie-break. 

  That teed up Sinner to close out Italy's victory, with the world number one overcoming De Minaur 6-3 6-4, the same scoreline he beat the Australian by at the ATP Finals earlier this month.

  Speaking after his victory in Malaga, Sinner said: "It means a lot. It was a tough encounter, playing Alex. We know each other quite well now, so I have to be very careful every time.

  "It's a very tough challenge for me, so I was looking forward to this one. Obviously, it helped a lot that Matteo won the singles today. He played amazing tennis. It was very high quality. 

  "Hopefully, this can give us some confidence for [Sunday]. It's going to be a very difficult and tough day for us and also the Netherlands."

  Data Debrief: Back-to-back for Italy

  Italy's men are looking to follow in the footsteps of their female counterparts, who won the Billie Jean King Cup earlier this week.

  They are just the third nation in history to make back-to-back finals at both the Davis Cup and the Federation/Billie Jean King Cup, after the United States (1963-64, 1978-79, 1981-82 and 1990-91) and Australia (1963-64 and 1964-65).

• Djokovic appoints Murray as coach for Australian Open

  Novak Djokovic has announced his long-term former rival Andy Murray as his coach for the Australian Open in 2025.

  Murray, a three-time Grand Slam winner, announced his retirement earlier this year and played his final match at the Paris Olympics in August.

  He will join Djokovic's team in the off-season and coach him through the opening grand slam of the year, which begins on January 12.

  This will be Murray's first coaching role since retiring following a 19-year career.

  "We played each other since we were boys. 25 years of being rivals, of pushing each other beyond our limits," Djokovic said in a video on social media.

  "We had some of the most epic battles in our sport. They called us game changers, risk-takers, history makers.

  "I thought our story may be over - turns out it has one final chapter.

  "It's time for one of my toughest opponents to step into my corner. Welcome onboard coach, Andy Murray."

  Djokovic failed to win a major title for the first time since 2017, though he did clinch a long-awaited Olympic gold medal in Paris.

  The Serb is currently level with Margaret Court for the most major singles titles by any player. He has a good record in Australia though, winning 10 times in Melbourne, beating Murray in four of those finals.

  Murray, who beat Djokovic to win the US Open title in 2012 and Wimbledon the following year, says he hopes they can achieve success together.

  "I'm going to be joining Novak's team in the off-season, helping him to prepare for the Australian Open," Murray said.

  "I'm really excited for it and looking forward to spending time on the same side of the net as Novak for a change, helping him to achieve his goals."

• Kidd hails Mavs' character after road win over Nuggets

  Jason Kidd hailed the character of his Dallas Mavericks team after their gutsy win over the Denver Nuggets.

  The Mavericks overcame Luka Doncic's absence, and a triple-double from returning Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, to win 123-120 in Friday's NBA Cup game.

  It also marked the third consecutive game the Mavericks have had seven players hit double figures. 

  The Mavericks appeared to be running away with a dominant win after leading by as many as 24 points early in the third quarter, only for the Nuggets to swiftly respond. 

  They struck a fierce 28-9 run in an eight-minute span to bring the game within single digits going into the final quarter, but the Mavericks held on for a fourth straight win.

  "We were here 10 days ago, we learned from that situation, we kept our composure. This group stayed together," Kidd said.  

  "On the defensive end we made stops and on the offensive end we made some big plays.

  "We didn't finish the game 10 days ago. But the guys stepped up. Defensively, we did what we had to do. A lot of small things that we cleaned up from the last time we were here.

  "This is a character game for us. Again without Luka, on the road, we were just in this situation in Oklahoma City. The games are too close for us to make mistakes late.

  "This team has a lot of character, a lot of trust and we're becoming a team - it's still early in the season, we've had some injuries, but it's about the next man up and those guys are stepping up."

  Dallas (9-7) improved to 2-1 in West Group C to keep their hopes of being one of eight teams to advance to the knockout round. The Mavericks trail the Golden State Warriors, who improved to 3-0 in Group Play after Friday’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

  It was also a night to remember for Naji Marshall, who scored a career-high 26 points off the bench. 

  After scoring 15 points in the second half of Tuesday’s game against the Pelicans, Marshall scored 16 points in the first half on Friday.

  Marshall had only two 15-point halves in his career prior to accomplishing the feat in consecutive halves, with Kidd showering praise for his recent displays. 

  "Just the trust. Marshall was playing extremely well for us. With the game on the line, he makes a floater with one second left on the shot clock," Kidd said. 

  "The confidence the guys have in him on the offensive end and defensive end [helps]."