ESPN.com - TENNIS - Germany eliminated from Davis Cup

Davis Cup Logo
 
Saturday, April 7
Germany eliminated from Davis Cup



DEN BOSCH, Netherlands – Paul Haarhuis and Sjeng Schalken beat Germany's David Prinosil and Jens Knippschild 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on Saturday to send the Netherlands through to the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time.

Their relatively comfortable victory in the doubles match gave the hosts, who had lost all their six previous encounters with Germany, an unassailable 3-0 lead in their world group quarterfinal tie.

The Netherlands will challenge either France or Switzerland for a place in the final.

"It's been a great weekend," said Dutch captain Tjerk Bogtstra. "I had never expected we would be leading 3-0 after the second day. But with the team we have, things like that are possible. There is no star but all the guys are fantastic."

The Dutch pair got off to a flying start on the fast, indoor court.

They broke with a crisp volley from Schalken in the second game of the first set, which they won with Prinosil netting a backhand on set point.

Another unforced error from a clumsy Prinosil offered the home duo another break in the third game of the second set. The Germans did not win a single break point until the seventh game of that set.

After Haarhuis fired an ace to seal the second set, the visitors clawed their way back into the match by earning four break opportunities in the second game of the third set.

Haarhuis and Schalken survived all four. Both pairs then held serve until in the 10th game Germany earned four set points.

The hosts saved the first two but on the third, Schalken hit a backhand long to give the set to Germany.

The Germans opened up a 2-0 lead in the fourth set but then collapsed, failing to win another game.

A smash by Haarhuis, who lived up to his reputation as one of the world's finest doubles players, gave two match points to the Dutch pair.

Schalken downed an ace on the first to wrap it up after two hours and 26 minutes.

"Managing early breaks in the first two sets was the key," said Bogtstra. "I was never really worried, even when the Germans were leading 2-0 in the fourth set. I was confident. We have a great doubles pair."

Jan Siemerink had set the Dutch team on course for victory by overcoming Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 in the first of Friday's opening singles matches.

Raemon Sluiter then crushed Prinosil 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 to make it 2-0 after the first day of action.

The Dutch team had impressed by trouncing defending champions Spain 4-1 in the opening round last February but few would have bet on them beating Germany after former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek had to pull out with an elbow injury.

Three-times Davis Cup champions Germany had their own problems as captain Carl-Uwe Steeb had do to without his most reliable singles player, Tommy Haas, who had not fully recovered from an ankle sprain.

Siemerink and Sluiter, fired up by great support from 9,000 orange-clad fans, gave their very best and the hosts' excellent doubles pair put the icing on the cake.

"The Dutch players gave it all they had and we did not fulfill our potential, which you have to do when you're play a Davis Cup tie in a foreign country," said Steeb.

"We had our chances, especially as Krajicek was not playing, but we could not take them. We now have to prove in the future that we belong with the best teams in the world but on what happened here, we would not have deserved to go further."

Germany had struggled past Romania 3-2 in the first round and can only be looking back with nostalgia to the times when the likes of Boris Becker and Michael Stich made them an awe-inspiring team.

Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
 




ALSO SEE
Germany on brink of Davis Cup defeat