GERMANY might not have top-ranked star Alexander Zverev, but the European nation has now reached the final four of the Davis Cup finals. In what was a fitting end to the tie against Great Britain, the German doubles pairing of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz won in two tiebreakers, coming from behind to win the last four points of the match and send their nation into the semi-finals. The Germans will now take on the winner of red-hot favourites Russia, or heavy underdogs Sweden, in the next stage.

Great Britain went into the match as favourites, with not only the two highest ranked singles players, but a strong doubles pairing as well. The second singles match went as expected, with Daniel Evans far too good for world number 85 Peter Gojowczyk. Evans won 6-2 6-1 in 55 minutes, with the Germans decision not to play Dominik Koepfer an interesting one.

Evans won 81 and 73 per cent of his first and second serve points, only dropping eight points on serve for the entire match. He never faced a break point, and by comparison created eight chances on Gojowczyk’s serve, capitalising five times. He hit 11 winners to six, and only conceded three unforced errors for the entire match, as Gojowczyk not only conceded 16, but also served a disappointing seven double faults.

Needing to win to keep his country in the hunt, Jan-Lennard Struff put his disappointing serving performance against world number one Novak Djokovic and Dennis Novak behind him, to produce nine aces and win 72 per cent of his first serve points against British number one, Cameron Norrie. Struff needed three sets, but eventually shook off the red-hot Norrie to win 7-6 3-6 6-2 in two hours and one minute.

Along with his serving, Stuff hit 27 winners to 26, and whilst he committed 21 unforced errors to nine, managed to save five of eight break points, whilst breaking Norrie four of seven. He only won one more point for the match compared to his opponent, but it was enough to get him home, finishing strong with half of his winners (13) coming in the third set, where he broke twice and was outstanding throughout.

The doubles match everyone had hoped to see was now a live contest, with world number three Joe Salisbury, and world number 20 Neal Skupski up against German Top 20 duo, Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz. The match lived up to every expectation, with two tiebreaker sets going right down to the wire and neither side giving an inch. Remarkably, neither nation was broken during the match, with Germany the only side to create a break point chance (one) but could not capitalise.

In the end, Krawietz and Puetz won 7-6 7-6, with the first tiebreaker being a whopping 12-10 result, and the second being 7-5. It was made all the more remarkable by the fact Salisbury and Skupski were 5-3 up in the second tiebreak, only for the German duo to hit back and win the last four points of the match and close out the tie. They won 83 and 68 per cent of their first and second serve points compared to Great Britain’s 75 and 65 per cent, as well as Germany hitting 36 winners to 26. Crucially, both sides only hit a combined nine unforced errors (6-3 Germany’s way) for the match in a real clean contest.

RESULTS:

Daniel Evans (GBR) defeated Peter Gojowczyk (GER) 6-2 6-1
Cameron Norrie (GBR) defeated Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 7-6 3-6 6-2
K. Krawietz/T. Puetz (GER) defeated J. Salisbury/N. Skupski (GBR) 7-6 7-6

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