The German national tennis team has won its first Davis Cup intermediate round game in Hamburg. The DTB selection beat France 2-1.
Under the eyes of the missing Olympic champion and local hero Alexander Zverev, who was injured, the doubles Kevin Krawietz/Tim Pütz (Coburg/Frankfurt) made the decisive point on Wednesday evening at Rothenbaum. The duo defeated Nicolas Mahut and Arthur Rinderknech after 2:11 hours 6:2, 3:6 7:6 (7:1).
It was the first German success against France in the most important competition for national teams in men’s tennis since 1938. The second opponent of the DTB team is Belgium on Friday (2 p.m.).
Struff shines, Otte loses
Before Krawietz and Pütz entered the court, Jan-Lennard Struff put Germany in the lead and Oscar Otte lost the second single. The Warsteiner Struff 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.
Otte then lost to Adrian Mannarino 4:6, 3:6. The 29-year-old from Cologne never really found his game on the hard court at Rothenbaum and left the field as a loser after just 80 minutes.
Fixtures and results Davis Cup in Hamburg
Tuesday: Belgium 0-3 Australia
Wednesday: France 1-2 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.
This topic in the program:
Hamburg Journal | 09/14/2022 | 19:30 o’clock
