Even without Alexander Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff, the German Davis Cup team has easily reached the next round. The replacement weakened selection of the German Tennis Federation clearly prevailed 3-1 against Israel. In mid -September, Germany is now meeting Japan in the fight for the Final 8 in Bologna, which Great Britain defeated 3-2.
The decisive third point won the German doubles Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz against Israel. The ATP final champions of 2024 outclassed the Israeli duo Daniel Cukierman and Amit Vales 6-0, 6: 3. The completely one -sided game only lasted a little more than an hour. Finally, Daniel Masur lost his meaningless individual debut in the Davis Cup against Ofek Shimanov 7: 6 (7: 2), 3: 6, 8:10. The last single was no longer played.
Laid the foundation stone in the first individually
Maximilian Marterer and Yannick Hanfmann had already won their two singles on Friday. Marterer rank Yshai Oliel with 6: 2, 5: 7, 6: 4. Then Hanfmann won 6: 4, 6: 4 against Cukierman.
For security reasons, the game had been moved to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
Zverev had canceled early for the duel with Israel to recover from the Australian Open. In Melbourne, the world ranking second had reached the final, but missed his first Grand Slam triumph against the Italian Jannik Sinner. In the short term, Struff also had to fit because of an infection.
Double is not required
But even without her two top players, Germany never ended up in danger in Vilnius in front of just a few spectators. For Krawietz and Pütz, the doubles against the completely chanceless Israelis was nothing more than a relaxed training session.
After the Melbourne semi-finalists won the first set 6-0, they switched back a few gears in the second round and allowed the Israelis at least three game gains. “It was a very good match. With the 2-0 lead, it was of course nice to go on the pitch,” said Krawietz.
Marterer and Hanfmann had to fight a little more on the first day. Marterer in particular struggled against Oliel after the first set won. “Suddenly the opponent changes a few things and made me a few mistakes,” said Marterer. “I got a little restless, which shouldn’t have happened, but sometimes it is normal in the Davis Cup.” Hanfmann also did not play his best tennis afterwards, but did not really end up in danger.
Chance of final round
After the relaxed recording against Israel, Germany also goes into the game against Japan as a favorite. The chance of being back at the final round is good. In the past year, Germany only failed in the semi -finals on the Netherlands.