Doubles decision! Germany smells the surprise against Serbia

German tennis men smell the big upset against Serbia in the Davis Cup in Innsbruck.

Jan-Lennard Struve (Warstein) lost to Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic 2:6, 4:6 and suffered a seventh defeat in a seventh duel with the world number one. In the final doubles on Saturday night, Kevin Krawetz/Tim Potts (Coburg/Frankfurt) can make the opening win perfect.

Dominic Kupfer put the German Tennis Federation (DTB) ahead, as the 27-year-old from Fortwangen beat Filip Krajinovic 7:6 (7:4), 6:4 in the first person. With a win over Serbia, captain Michael Coleman’s side will have fantastic prospects in the quarter-finals, in their Group B match against hosts Austria on Sunday (not before 4pm/ServusTV) obviously a favourite.

In addition to the six group winners, the top two runners-up also qualify for the knockout round. Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, as an opponent of the new Davis Cup, which is taking place in the last round at the end of an already bloated season since 2019, is not participating. Due to the coronavirus lockdown in Austria, the Games will be held in the Innsbruck Olympic Hall without spectators.

In the previous six matches against Djokovic, Struve had won only one set, the most recent of which was a clear defeat at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Also on Saturday, the 20-times champion, who failed in the semi-finals at Zverev Stadium in last week’s ATP Finals, left no doubts from the start. Despite the improvement and good fighting performance by Struve in the second set, the Serbian star cheered after 72 minutes.

Kupfer had previously acted with great determination against Krajinovic, whom he had already beaten on his 2019 Wimbledon debut, and claimed victory in a high-level match as a more aggressive player. In the second set, the Black Forest man was already leading 4:1 and 5:3, but gave up the breakout lead twice. But Krajinovic wiggled a lot while serving.