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Jan-Lennard Struff in the Davis Cup semifinals against Daniil Medvedev
Photo:
PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP
The German tennis men have to wait for the first Davis Cup final in 28 years.
Against the title favorites Russia, the surprising winning streak of the German selection of team captain Michael Kohlmann ended prematurely in the semifinals.
Dominik Koepfer had no chance on Saturday in Madrid in a 4: 6, 0: 6 against the world number five Andrej Rublev.
Jan-Lennard Struff then lost, despite a good performance against world number two and US Open champion Daniil Medvedev 4: 6, 4: 6 and could no longer maintain the chances of the title.
After the two defeats in two sets each, the hoped-for decision in doubles with Tim Pütz and Kevin Krawietz did not come.
The Russians will fight for the Davis Cup title in the final against Croatia on Sunday.
Without Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, the conspiratorial team astonished with the semi-finals, which the German men had made perfect with three victories in Innsbruck.
With the trophy in mind in the Madrid Arena, the German hope for the fourth Davis Cup title since 1988, 1989 and 1993 remained a dream.
“The semifinals are already a great success for us.
Hopefully we can get Zverev to play in the next few years and we have a real chance of winning the final and the Davis Cup, "said Koepfer.
Given the class of Russians who have two top five players in their ranks, the German ATP Finals winners would have needed Zverev to move into the final for the first time since 1993.
After only about two and a half hours, the entire encounter was decided.
Struff played courageously in the top match against world number two Medvedev and started confidently, but the Russian was too strong.
A weaker service game to 4: 5 destroyed all hope of winning the first set against the almost impeccable Russian favorites.
The Sauerland had previously proven at this year's Davis Cup final tournament that he can handle pressure and twice equalized a deficit after the defeat in the first individual.
This time he had no chance to turn the game around on serve and gave up his own service to make it 2: 4.
Only at 4: 5 Struff had the only break opportunity.
Koepfer only spent 49 minutes on the Center Court of the Madrid Arena.
Against the world number five Rublev, the number 54 in the world had to be humiliated in the second set with the maximum tennis penalty.
"It was by far his best match here in Madrid," said Koepfer, paying tribute to Rublev's performance.
In the first set, the 27-year-old fell behind with the loss of service to 1: 2, in the second set the game was completely one-sided.
The Black Forest was constantly under pressure.
"The problem was the third game of the match, I was broken, then he played freely and, above all, hammered on with his forehand," explained Koepfer: "The way he served it was difficult to get into the match."
In 1994, 1995 and 2007 in the Davis Cup semifinals the Germans ended up against Russia in the semifinals.
ara / dpa