Germany is under pressure early on in the Davis Cup duel with Switzerland. Tennis pro Oscar Otte lost against Marc-Andrea Hüsler in the first individual match of the day in Trier 6:2, 2:6, 4:6. Olympic champion Alexander Zverev will meet three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka (37) later on Friday evening.
In the event of another defeat, the German Tennis Association (DTB) team is in danger of losing sight of qualifying for the Davis Cup group stage in September. Three successes are necessary for the overall victory against Switzerland. The third and possible further games will be played on Saturday from 1 p.m. (sportbild.de/tennischannel.com).
In front of the eyes of former Wimbledon winner Boris Becker, who took a seat on the German bench, Otte found the game strong. The man from Cologne, who didn’t start the new tennis year well, got the first break straight away and then didn’t let the first set be taken away.
In the second round, however, the 26-year-old Hüsler hit back with good serves and, to the cheers of the Swiss fans, forced the deciding set. There Otte gave up his serve twice and couldn’t find his way back into the match.