MADRID, November 20, 2019
Germany snapped a three-tie losing streak and claimed their first Davis Cup victory against Argentina since 1991 in the opening round-robin tie at the Davis Cup by Rakuten Madrid Finals. Michael Kohlmann‘s team defeated the South Americans 3-0 on Wednesday afternoon.
Philipp Kohlschreiber was first up on Stadium 2 and secured a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback win over Guido Pella followed by a very solid performance by Jan-Lennard Struff. The 29-year-old from Warstein edged past Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 7-6.
“Winning against Argentina is great, but we also want to win the group,” Struff said, quoted by the Tennis Magazin.
In the dead doubles rubber, Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies celebrated a successful Davis Cup debut beating Maximo Gonzalez and Leonardo Mayer 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 7-6(18). The three hour and 18 minutes tie-break of the final set has been the longest ever in Davis Cup history.
“I am really tired right now, but very happy to clinch the third point,” Mies said afterwards. Germany will face Chile on Thursday morning.
What. A. Match. 👏
In 3 hours and 18 minutes, Germany beat Argentina in the longest Davis Cup tiebreak ever ⏰#DavisCupMadridFinals #byRakuten pic.twitter.com/U9bD7PHBUb
— Davis Cup by Rakuten Madrid Finals (@DavisCupFinals) November 20, 2019
Great Britain beat the Netherlands
On Stadium 3, Andy Murray battled back from the brink of defeat to beat World No. 179 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands in three sets. Great Britain eventually edged past the Dutch 2-1 in Group E.
“It was a very, very tough match, fantastic atmosphere,” Murray said. “I think that was one of the things that some of the players were worried about playing at a neutral venue but I thought the atmosphere was brilliant from both sets of fans.
Murray said about his opponent, who won the Srpska Open ATP Challenger event this season. “He played brilliant. I was lucky at the end of the match. He deserved to win.”
Serbia defeats Japan 3-0
Novak Djokovic and Filip Krajinovic led Serbia to a straightforward 3-0 win over Japan to set up a showdown with France for top spot in Group A.
Krajinovic gained a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 win over Yuichi Sugita, and the World No. 2 defeated Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1, 6-2.
“We always knew it was a big possibility that it might come to France and Serbia, with all respect to Japan,” Djokovic said. “We did our job in singles – hopefully we can do our job in doubles, as every match counts. It will give us more room to breathe in case, god forbid, we lose 2-1 to France. But these are all calculations – let’s try to focus on this one today and then enjoy the blockbuster against France.”
Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki fought past Ben McLachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-6, 7-6 in the doubles rubber.
