Dhe German tennis men started the Davis Cup finals with a big surprise against Serbia around top star Novak Djokovic and opened the gate to the quarter-finals wide. In the final doubles Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz (Coburg / Frankfurt) won 7: 6 (7: 5), 3: 6, 7: 6 (7: 5) against Djokovic / Nikola Cacic and secured the 2: 1 victory. With a success on Sunday (not before 4:00 p.m. on ServusTV) against hosts Austria, group victory and entry into the knockout round would be perfect.
Dominik Koepfer put the German Tennis Federation (DTB) in the lead in Innsbruck, and the 27-year-old from Furtwangen defeated Filip Krajinovic 7: 6 (7: 4), 6: 4 in the first individual. Jan-Lennard Struff (Warstein) then conceded the seventh defeat in the seventh duel against the Grand Slam record champion and world number one Djokovic at 2: 6, 4: 6.
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, did not participate. Due to the corona lockdown in Austria, the games in the Innsbruck Olympic Hall will take place without a spectator.
Djokovic played the doubles after only a short break, but before that he had been able to save some strength against Struff. The 20-time major champion, who failed in the semifinals at the ATP Finals last week by Zverev, left no doubts from the start, took the lead early in both sets with a break and was allowed to cheer after 72 minutes. In doubles, Djokovic got a fight at eye level, Krawietz / Pütz showed great morals and turned a 2: 4 deficit in the third set.
Koepfer had previously acted with great determination against Krajinovic and earned the win 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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