(Tennis news) Germany followed Croatia's path to the semifinals as they shocked favourites Great Britain to reach the semifinals of the Davis Cup. Germany’s fate has been decided in the third match in the past three matches but have always managed to come through to the next round. Daniel Evans gave Britain their first point by dominating the first tie after beating Peter Gojowczyk as he conceded only three games and completed the match under an hour. The second match gave Germany the much needed win as Jan-Lennard Struff beat Cameron Norrie to level the match for the three time champion. All four players showed never ending competitive spirit and flashes of brilliant shotmaking in all the three matches. But the Germans stayed cooler under pressure to overcome their opponents. Krawietz and Puetz saved four set points in the first-set tie-break and rallied from 0/5 in the second-set tie-break to secure their victory.
In the final match, the pair of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz proved to be successful yet again as they beat Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski in straight sets. In the second set tie breaker, they were down 0-5 as Britain looked to capitalize the opportunity but failed to do so as the Germans were too high spirited.
Jan-Lennard was the first one to bring hopes for the team as he saved two set points against Norrie in the opening set tie breaker. Norrie had won his first Masters 1000 title this year at Indian Wells and was the highest ranked player from both the teams. But the world number 12 came back strong in the second set to force the match into the decider as pressure mounted for Jan-Lennard who took it like his life depended on it. The final set saw Jan-Lennard only give away two games as the scores were leveled.
The third quarterfinal match will take place today between Serbia and Kazakhstan as Serbia looks to win their second title. Kazakhstan are into their sixth quarterfinal but haven’t won a title yet, Serbia are the favourites to win. With World number one Novak Djokovic on their side, Serbia are predicted to win 3-0 or 2-1 as Alexander Bublik has been in form in the past few matches. Mikhail Kukushkin will look to continue his form from the previous match against Canada, Kazakhstan will look to gain inspiration from Croatia and Germany when they face the higher ranked Serbia.
Also read: Croatia cruises into semifinals at Davis Cup, Britain to face Germany for semi final berth
