Davis Cup: Germany loses group final against USA

Germany lost the group final against the USA 1:2 and will therefore face a group winner in the final round of the Davis Cup in Malaga in November.

The defeat for the selection of the German Tennis Association (DTB) was already certain after the singles on Saturday (September 14, 2024). Maximilian Marterer lost to his opponent Brandon Nakashima 4:6, 2:6 in Zhuhai, China, after Henri Squire had previously lost 7:6 (7:4), 6:7 (9:11), 3:6 in his Davis Cup debut against Reilly Opelka despite having three match points.

The victory in the final doubles match was therefore worthless in sporting terms. The US Open finalists Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz beat the top American duo Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6:1, 7:6 (7:4).

Double fault on match point

The 23-year-old Squire had previously had a much more exciting match against Opelka. Given the 3-0 wins against Slovakia and Chile and the certain qualification for the finals, substitute Squire had his chance. The world number 187. He initially kept his cool for a long time against the former top 20 player and 2.11 meter tall serve specialist and showed a strong performance in the deuce. A point in the first tiebreak on the American’s serve secured him the first set win.

In the tiebreak of the second set, Squire had three match points, one of them on his own serve. But at that very moment he made a double fault – just as he did a little later on the second set point against himself.

The Duisburg player had no chance on Opelka’s two match points on his serve. Squire’s only loss of serve to make it 1:3 in the deciding set led to the decision in favor of the American.

Surprising abandonment of Hanfmann

Somewhat surprisingly, team manager Michael Kohlmann decided not to field Yannick Hanfmann in the duel for group victory. Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer did not even travel to China.

With a win against the USA, the German team would have been one of four teams at the finals in Malaga from November 19 to 24 and would have initially faced a group runner-up in the quarterfinals. As second in the group, the DTB selection will now have a group winner as its first knockout round opponent.