Germany Defeats Canada to Reach Davis Cup Semifinals
Struff, Altmaier Propel Germany into the Davis Cup Final Four
Malaga, Spain—Wednesday’s Davis Cup final action in Malaga, Spain featured Team Germany advancing to the semifinals, defeating Team Canada 2-0.
Starting off the day, Daniel Altmaier used his one-handed backhand to great effect to dismiss Gabriel Diallo 7-6(5), 6-4.
Needing one hour and 57 minutes to advance, Altmaier hit 10 aces, overcame nine aces from is opponent, won 75 percent of his first serve points and broke the Canadian on two occasions.
Never playing each other on Tour, Altmaier is currently ranked No. 88 and Diallo occupies the 86th position in the world.
Diallo recently reached the finals in Almaty, Kazakhstan, while Altmaier has victories over world No. 2 Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger Aliassime and National Bank Open winner Alexei Popyrin in 2024.
Next up, the day’s second match featured towering German Jan-Lennard Struff dismissing Denis Shapovalov 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(5).
Defeating the talented Canadian for the seventh time in his career, Struff struck eight aces, withstood 27 from his opponent, won 77 percent of his first serve points and broke serve on two occasions.
Germany will next face the Netherlands on Saturday in the semifinals. The Dutch team advanced over Spain on Tuesday.
Botic van de Zandschulp ended the career of legendary Spaniard Rafael Nadal, before van de Zandschulp teamed up with Wesley Koolhof to oust Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers in the deciding doubles tie.
Alcaraz had defeated Tallon Griekspoor 7-6(0), 6-3 in the days second match.
Sinner to Lead Team Italy on Thursday
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner will make his first appearance at the Davis Cup on Thursday, leading his stacked team against the Argentines.
Sinner, who has won eight titles this year and nearly 23 million in reported prize money, is far and away the best player in 2024. Team Italy will also include Lorenzo Musetti, Matteo Berrettini, Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli.
Thursday’s other quarterfinal will feature the United States taking on Australia.
Alex de Minaur, Alexei Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Matthew Ebden will lead Team Australia against Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton, Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram from the U.S.A.
Fritz recently lost to Sinner in the finals of the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy. The match was a rematch of the US Open final in New York City.
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