Sydney (AP) – The German tennis men around Alexander Zverev can continue to hope for a place in the semifinals at the ATP Cup. Jan-Lennard Struff and Zverev ensured in Sydney against the USA with their successes that the 2-1 victory in the second group game was already certain after the individual.
Two days after the 1: 2 at the start against Great Britain, Struff first defeated the strongly serving John Isner with 7: 6 (9: 7), 4: 6, 7: 5. Then Zverev won 6: 4, 6: 4 against Taylor Fritz and in a hard-fought last service game with the sixth match point made the uncatchable 2-0 intermediate result perfect.
In the end Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz lost in doubles 0: 6, 3: 6 against Fritz and Isner and showed a disappointing performance over long periods. For Pütz it was the first use in the team competition after arm problems, for him Zverev jumped in against the British – but without success.
Zverev: Glad to reach the semifinals
Despite the difficulties against Fritz, Zverev was overall satisfied with his performance in the end. “Until the last game it was a good level for my second match of the year. It was very intense with hard hits,” said the Olympic champion. “The most important thing is that Team Germany won and that we gave ourselves the best chance to reach the semi-finals,” added the third in the world rankings.
The 24-year-old missed three match balls in a row against Fritz, a crashing ace through the middle with the second serve finally meant the decision on the sixth opportunity after just under an hour and a half.
Previously, Struff had survived 31 aces of the 2.08 meter tall veteran Isner. The Warsteiner used his third match point against the serve of the 36-year-old for the first victory over Isner. “It’s always difficult against John. I’ve played against him four times and lost four times. That’s why I’m very happy to have won the day for my team,” said the 31-year-old Struff.
The German team had to get their first win after the opening defeat against Great Britain in order to have a chance of winning the group in Season C. Only the first placed in the four groups reach the semi-finals. The last German opponent is Canada on January 6th, which will meet the British beforehand. In addition to its own success at the end, the German selection is also dependent on a slip by Great Britain. The Americans started with a 3-0 win over Canada.
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