Davis Cup: Germany lost to USA in group final

After two singles, it is already clear that Germany will lose against the USA, so a group will face the winner in November's Davis Cup finals in Malaga.

On Saturday (September 14, 2024), Maximilian Marterer lost to his opponent Brandon Nakashima 4:6, 2:6 in Zhuhai, China, while Henry Squire had earlier lost to Reilly Opelka 7:6 (7:4). Davis Cup lost 6:7 (9:11), 3:6 despite three match points.

The final doubles match between US Open finalists Kevin Kravitz and Tim Butz was meaningless 0:2 in the eyes of the German Tennis Association (TDB) selection.

Double fault on match point

The 23-year-old Squire had a very exciting game against Opelka earlier. Given 3-0 wins over Slovakia and Chile and safe qualification for the finals, substitute Squire got his chance. The world number 187 initially kept quiet for long against the former top 20 player and 2.11m tall service specialist and produced a strong performance on his debut. A point in the first tiebreak earned him the first set when the American held serve.

In the second-round tiebreak, Squire had three match points, one of which was on his own serve. But then he double-faulted – just as he did on a second set point against himself moments later.

With two match points when Opelka served, the Duisburg player had no chance. Skir's only loss of serve in the deciding set at 1:3 led to the decision in favor of the American.

Hanfman's surprising discount

A small surprise was that team boss Michael Coleman did without Yannick Hanfman in the fight for group victory. Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer didn't even travel to China.

A win against the USA would have made Germany one of four teams to play in the finals in Malaga from November 19 to 24, and would have been the group's runners-up in the quarter-finals. Second in the group, the DTB selection now has the group winner as its first knockout round opponent.