The German national tennis team had to accept the equalizer in their first Davis Cup intermediate round match in Hamburg against France. Oscar Otte clearly lost the second single.
Under the eyes of the injured missing Olympic champion and local hero Alexander Zverev, Cologne’s Adrian Mannarino lost 4: 6, 3: 6 on Wednesday evening. The 29-year-old never really found his game on the hard court at Rothenbaum and left the field as a loser after just 80 minutes.
Struff defeats Bonzi
Jan-Lennard Struff had previously put Germany in the lead. The Warsteiner showed a strong performance against Benjamin Bonzi and even fended off two match points against the favored world number 53. away. After 2:13 hours, the 32-year-old, number 132 in the ATP classification, stretched his arms in the air: he had won the dramatic duel 4: 6, 6: 2, 7: 5.
“It was a crazy match with many ups and downs. For me, the biggest thing is to win for Germany and get a 1-0 lead here,” said Struff.
Double must decide
Now the final doubles have to make the decision. Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz (Coburg/Frankfurt) meet Nicolas Mahut and Arthur Rinderknech. The selection of the German Tennis Association (DTB) last managed to win against France in 1938 in the most important competition for national teams in men’s tennis.
Fixtures and results Davis Cup in Hamburg
Tuesday: Belgium 0-3 Australia
Wednesday: France – Germany
Thursday: France – Australia
Friday: Germany – Belgium
Saturday: France – Belgium
Sunday: Germany – Australia
always from 2 p.m
Zverev has to pass injured
The hopes that Zverev would be deployed at Rothenbaum had burst on Monday. Germany’s number one suffered a setback in training after suffering a serious ligament injury. Bone edema had formed, the 25-year-old explained. Even walking hurts him, so he can only support the team from the stands.
Davis Cup mode
Since 2019, the Davis Cup has been held in a different format with a qualification and a final round.
24 teams compete in the qualifying phase. Twelve teams will advance to the final round, which will also include the two 2021 finalists and two wildcard holders.
Finalists were Croatia and Russia, which were excluded from the competition because of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Serbia advanced as the highest ranked semi-finalist. Canada and Great Britain are there with a wildcard.
These 16 nations will play in groups of four at four different locations for a place in the quarter-finals. The game is played in round-robin mode – two singles and one double over two winning sets each. The four group winners and the runners-up advance to the quarter-finals and from then on fight for the title in a knockout system.
