The German tennis men sniff the big surprise against co-favorite Serbia at the Davis Cup in Innsbruck.
Jan-Lennard Struff (Warstein) lost to Grand Slam record champion Novak Djokovic 2: 6, 4: 6 and suffered the seventh defeat in the seventh duel with the world number one. In the final doubles on Saturday evening, Kevin Krawietz / Tim Pütz (Coburg / Frankfurt) can make the opening victory perfect.
Dominik Koepfer put the German Tennis Federation (DTB) in the lead, the 27-year-old from Furtwangen defeated Filip Krajinovic 7: 6 (7: 4), 6: 4 in the first individual. In the event of a win over Serbia, captain Michael Kohlmann’s team would have brilliant prospects for the quarter-finals, in the second group game against hosts Austria on Sunday (not before 4 p.m. / ServusTV) they are clearly favored.
In addition to the six group winners, the two best runners-up also qualify for the knockout round. Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, as an opponent of the new Davis Cup, which has been taking place in a final round at the end of an already bloated season since 2019, does not participate. Due to the corona lockdown in Austria, the games in the Innsbruck Olympic Hall will take place without a spectator.
In the previous six games against Djokovic, Struff had only won one set, most recently a clear defeat at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. And on Saturday, too, the 20-time major winner, who failed in the semifinals of Zverev at the ATP Finals last week, left no doubts from the start. Despite an improvement and a good fighting performance Struff’s in the second set, the Serbian top star cheered after 72 minutes.
Koepfer had previously acted with great determination against Krajinovic, whom he had already defeated on his Wimbledon debut in 2019, and earned the victory in a match at a high level as a more aggressive player. In the second set, the Black Forest man was already leading 4: 1 and 5: 3, but twice gave up the break lead. But Krajinovic also wobbled too much on serve.
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