Rio de Janeiro (dpa) – The German Davis Cup team is only missing one victory in the duel with Brazil to enter the group phase.
The German tennis doubles Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz won in Rio de Janeiro against the Brazilian duo Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves and Bruno Soares after a hard fight 4: 6, 7: 6 (7: 4), 6: 4. It is 2-1 for Germany in the first round encounter.
“It was a very difficult match, away in Brazil. If it’s 1-1, the doubles is of course very important,” said Krawietz after the win. “We stayed calm and survived the critical moments well.”
Olympic champion Alexander Zverev can now make progress with a win in the top individual against Thiago Monteiro. After that, Jan-Lennard Struff and Thiago Seyboth Wild will play against each other. On Friday, Zverev clearly won against Seyboth Wild, but Struff had to admit defeat to Monteiro.
Krawietz and Pütz initially had major problems with the difficult space conditions in the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro. In the first set, Krawietz lost his serve, after 38 minutes the Brazilians took the first set. In the second set, however, the German duo improved and managed to equalize the set in the tie-break. Krawietz and Pütz, who had won all four games in last year’s finals, now had the upper hand and made the victory perfect with the first match point.