After a bitter evening, the German tennis team has to wait for its first Davis Cup title in 31 years. In the semi-finals, Michael Kohlmann’s team lost 2-0 to the very vulnerable Netherlands.
Struff could no longer avert disaster in the second singles of the evening – he lost an intense game 7:6 (7:4), 5:7, 4:6 against Tallon Griekspoor. Daniel Altmaier had previously suffered an annoying 4:6, 7:6 (14:12), 3:6 defeat against Botic van de Zandschulp after a battle of nerves. As in the 2-0 win against Canada in the quarter-finals, the top German pair of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz didn’t even play.
In the absence of top star Alexander Zverev, the DTB team had the chance for the greatest success of the past decades against an opponent at eye level. But as in 2021, when they lost 2-1 to Russia, the final remained a dream. The Netherlands, on the other hand, made it to the final for the first time in the long history of the national event. Either defending champion Italy and world number one Jannik Sinner or Australia are waiting there on Sunday (4 p.m./DAZN).
Struff and Griekspoor, who served nine aces in the first set alone, demonstrated their respective serving strengths from the start – the rallies usually only lasted a few seconds. The first round was over after just 39 minutes, even though it went the full distance. To the cheers of the German bank, who were always cheering loudly, with the better end for Struff, who kept his nerve in the tiebreak.
Afterwards it remained a breathless service festival. Struff only came close to a break once, but missed both chances. Different Griekspoor, who found an answer to Struff’s service strength shortly before the end of the second round. In the following decisive sentence, the German ran out of steam a little.
