Two days after bring forward Rafa Nadal’s retirement By winning the quarterfinal tie against Spain, the Netherlands made history with its first qualification for a final of the Davis Cup in its 104 years of experience in the competition. Botic van de Zandschulp, the hero capable of beating the Balearic Islands and finishing off the Navy team in the doubles, with Wesley Koolhof, won the first point this Friday in the semifinals against Germany (6-4, 6-7 (12) and 6-3 in 2h42). Afterwards, Tallon Griekspoor defeated Jan-Lennard Struff (6-7 (4), 7-5 and 6-4 in 2h01), so the couples duel was not necessary.
Although he had less pressure, Van de Zandschulp suffered greatly to beat Altmaier and give his country the first point of the tie. The 29-year-old tennis player and 80th in the world wasted a 4-2 lead and, subsequently, five break points in the second set tiebreaker, so he had to fight in the third to finally overcome the resistance of his stubborn rival . Daniel, in fact, had two break points in the last game of the match and saved another four match points before giving up against a player he had not faced before.
“At some point I didn’t know what else to do on match points. In the second set, with 4-2 and 15-40“I felt that with a double break it was game, set and match, in the tie-break I had many match points, but he handled them well”dijo Van de Zandschulp. “It was difficult to come back in the third set, I started with the break and he returned it, but in the end I served well”he added before talking about his meeting with Nadal. “I think that on Tuesday I had the most complicated game of my life, so everything that comes after was going to be easier. The support is impressive, Dutch people always come, there are many who are enjoying themselves, it is great to see”. Decisive in the quarterfinal series against Spain, Botic added his eighth victory in 11 games this year in Davis.
Relative surprise
Later, Griekspoor broke the predictions that had Struff as a favorite, despite the fact that in their only previous match (US Open 2021) the German had lostand he disarmed the German with his serves (25 aces), which allowed him to win 83% of points with firsts. It was key for Tallon to recover after losing a first set in the tiebreaker in which there was not a single break option. In the second, the Dutchman broke just to get to 6-5 and close it with his serve. The third round got her back on track right away, with a break in her first rest turn.
“It’s incredible, we’ve been talking about this for two or three years, we’ve always gotten here, we’ve had very difficult draws. This year we had Spain. But many of us believed in ourselves, we always talked and we felt that this was possible to do now.”said the winner. “I’ve tried to stay focused on my own game, I think Struff played incredible tennis. In the first set I feel like I didn’t do anything too bad. I served very well, but I know him and I know how well he can play. He made his first failures at 5-5 in the second set and that helped me a little. Very proud of me and the effort, very happy to get the victory in the end”he added, before his teammate Koolhof was paid tribute at the Martín Carpena for his retirement. He could still have one last game left, in Sunday’s final against Italy or Australia, who meet this Saturday (1:00 p.m., Movistar +) in the other semifinal.
Follow the Diario AS channel on WhatsApp, where you will find all the sport in a single space: the news of the day, the agenda with the latest news on the most important sporting events, the most outstanding images, the opinion of the best AS firms , reports, videos, and some humor from time to time.
