WASHINGTON/STARNBERG, March 6, 2022
Team Germany secured their ticket to the Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals in September with a 3-1 win over Brazil at the Parque Olímpico Arena Tenis in Rio de Janeiro. Following a 1-1 draw after the first day, Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz gave the German team the lead on Saturday. They beat Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alvez and Bruno Soares 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.
Later in the day, World No. 3 Alexander Zverev secured the final point in the second reverse singles rubber against Thiago Monteiro, winning 6-1, 7-5.
🇩🇪 @AlexZverev seals the 6-1, 7-5 win with an ace in Rio!#DavisCup #byRakuten pic.twitter.com/JfC9HhyZHB
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) March 5, 2022
“I think we can all be very happy,” Zverev said after the match. “I think we all trained very well this week and I think we all played very well this week and I think we were performing well as a team.
“Everyone was ready to play, everyone was happy to be here. Instead of five players, we had six players for practice, so it was perfect.
“It was probably the most fun week I had this year on court, for me personally, and I’m looking forward to what’s ahead for this team, because this team can be very strong.”
Germany has reached the Davis Cup Finals for the third time. During the 2020-21 Davis Cup season, Germany defeated Belarus 4-1 in the Qualifiers in Düsseldorf in March 2020. At the 2021 Finals, the team reached the Davis Cup semi-finals for the first time since 2007, as they defeated both Serbia and Austria 2-1 to finish in first place in Group F, defeated Great Britain 2-1 in the quarterfinals and then fell to eventual champions Russian Tennis Federation 2-1 in the last four.
“This is a very important achievement for us. After our good performance in the finals last year, we want to establish ourselves among the best in the world,” Germany’s Davis Cup captain Michael Kohlmann said.
“Qualifying for the group stage was the first step. We passed the test here away in Brazil as a team. The switch to clay, the loud Brazilian fans and the different conditions didn’t affect us. We knew that every point, every situation is important. It’s good to know that we have such a strong doubles team that we can always count on and that remain undefeated in the Davis Cup. Alexander presented himself strongly here and in both of his singles matches, showing how important he is for our team. All in all, it was a very good week in Rio, which brought us closer together as a team.”
Korda’s U.S. Davis Cup debut a successful one
Sebastian Korda made his U.S. Davis Cup debut in his team’s the Davis Cup Qualifier against Colombia in Reno, Nev. on Friday. It was a successful outing for the World No. 40 from Bradenton, Fla. as he defeated Colombia’s Nico Mejia, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, which gave the Americans an early 1-0 lead in the best-of-5 series. Later, Taylor Fritz increased the U.S. lead to 2-0 with a 53-minute straight-set win over Alejandro Gonzalez.
“It’s definitely different,” Korda, 21, said as he explained the difference between playing Davis Cup versus the ATP Tour. “Everybody has nerves every single match, but, yeah, I was just super comfortable. I don’t really get too nervous, but it was epic seeing the crowd kind of fire you up, all the cow bells, the drums, everything going on. It was definitely a unique experience and hopefully I can use it and keep going the way I’m going.”
Point goes to the Team 🇺🇸@SebiKorda clinches the win against Mejia 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.@DavisCup l #DavisCup pic.twitter.com/SaYlKsE6m5
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) March 5, 2022
Then, on Saturday afternoon, the U.S. made a clean sweep of Colombia winning the doubles rubber in back of Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock. They defeated Juan Sebastian Cabal and Nicolas Barrientos, who was a late sub for Robert Farah, 6-3, 6-4, in one hour and 18 minutes.
Big shots for a big moment!@JackSock92 and @RajeevRam brought the highlights in @DavisCup. pic.twitter.com/eVj9J3izOB
— USTA (@usta) March 6, 2022
