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THE Netherlands reached the final of the Davis Cup for the first time as Tallon Griekspoor fought back to win his singles match and clinch a 2-0 victory against Germany.
Botic van de Zandschulp, who beat Rafael Nadal in the final match of the Spaniard’s career on Tuesday, put the Dutch team 1-0 up on Friday when he defeated Daniel Altmaier in the first singles match.
The world number 80 needed 10 match points to wrap up a tense 6-4 6-7 (12-14) 6-3 win.
Griekspoor stopped the best-of-three tie from going to a deciding doubles as he surged back from a set down to overcome Jan-Lennard Struff 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 6-4.
“We believed in ourselves so much, we always felt this was possible so to do it now feels unbelievable,” said Griekspoor.
The Netherlands will face defending champions Italy – led by world number one Jannik Sinner – or Australia in Sunday’s final.
“It’s more unique that we do it because we don’t have that top-five player, we don’t have that top-10 player, we don’t have that top-15 player – but it’s a team effort,” Netherlands captain Paul Haarhuis said.
“We have to believe in ourselves, whoever is against us, that we can do it. It’s our time this year. We’re here and we’re going to make it count.”
Three-time winners Germany were aiming to reach the final for the first time since they last won the title in 1993.
They were without world number two Alexander Zverev, who said last month that he would miss the Davis Cup Finals in order to “recover and be back at 100%” for the 2025 season.
Van de Zandschulp holds nerve after ‘toughest match of life’
There was a a febrile atmosphere when Van de Zandschulp faced 22-time Grand Slam winner Nadal, with some of his first-serve misses cheered by the partisan crowd.
No longer the villain, there was still tension for the Dutchman as Altmaier fought back from a break down in the second set and saved five match points in a 26-point tie-break to force a deciding set.
But Van de Zandschulp struck the decisive blow to break at 4-3 in the third and held his nerve to brush off a series of double faults and serve out the win at the 10th time of asking.
“I had the toughest match of my life on Tuesday so everything that comes next maybe is a little bit easier,” Van de Zandschulp said.
In a closely-fought second singles match, neither player faced a break point in the opening set and it was Struff who upped the intensity to win the resulting tie-break.
However, Griekspoor battled back and his serve proved crucial as he sealed victory with his 25th ace.
It meant Van de Zandschulp and Wesley Koolhof, who is set to retire after the Davis Cup, were not called to action for the deciding doubles.
“It has been an incredible journey over the last 15 or 20 years of playing tennis. I did it with a lot of passion,” Koolhof said as his career was celebrated with a retirement ceremony after the Netherlands’ win.
“We’re not done, I’m not done. We still have a few days to go and hopefully we can make something special happen here.”
Photo Caption: Tallon Griekspoor beat Jan-Lennard Struff to seal the Netherlands’ place in the final
Culled from BBC
23rd November, 2024.
C.E.
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