Alexander Zverev bounced back after a tough singles defeat to world number one Novak Djokovic on Friday to help Germany seal their spot in the semi-finals of the ATP Cup for the first time.
Zverev partnered Jan-Lennard Struff to register a 7-6(4), 5-7, 10-7 win in the deciding doubles rubber against Djokovic and Nikola Cacic.
Struff was Germany’s hero, having earlier won the No. 2 singles against Dusan Lajovic, before teaming with Zverev to seal the tie for Germany 2-1, knocking out the defending champion.
Germany advances to face Russia, the Group D winner, in Saturday’s semi-finals, with the final to be played on Sunday. Team Russia is led by the double threat of Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, who are both ranked inside the Top 10 in the ATP rankings.
In a dramatic doubles, the Germans won six straight points from 2/4 down in the match tie-break, freezing out Djokovic at every opportunity and directing as much traffic as possible to the more inexperienced Cacic. In last year’s ATP Cup final, Djokovic backed up from his singles win over Rafael Nadal to partner Viktor Troicki in the deciding doubles, which earned Serbia the inaugural title.
In the No.1 singles match, Djokovic extended his record at the ATP Cup to 11 straight wins after winning a three-set thriller against Zverev 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-5 to keep defending Serbia alive in the tie.
“I thought we both played well,” Djokovic said on court. “He definitely had a big serving match. It was so difficult to play against him today. Missiles from the other side of the court, both first and second serve. He was going for it, not too many double faults,” he added.