German tennis players have to wait for the first Davis Cup final in 28 years. Against the title favorites Russia, the German team captain Michael Kohlmann’s surprising winning streak ended prematurely in the semi-finals.

Dominik Koepfer did not have a chance on Saturday in Madrid in a 4: 6, 0: 6 against world number five Andrej Rublev. Jan-Lennard Struff then lost, despite a strong showing against world number two and US Open champion Daniil Medvedev 4: 6, 4: 6 and could no longer hold onto the title chances.

After the two losses in two sets each, the long-awaited decision in doubles no longer materialized. There Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz were able to beat Aslan Karazew and Karen Chatschanow 4: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4 and maintain their perfect record this week.

Without Alexander Zverev, the conspiratorial team stunned with the semi-finals, which the Germans had perfected with three victories in Innsbruck. With the trophy in mind at the Madrid Arena, Germany’s hope for the fourth Davis Cup title from 1988, 1989 and 1993 remained a dream.

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“The semi-finals are a great success for us. Hopefully we can get Zverev to play in the next few years and have a real chance to win the final and the Davis Cup, ”said Koepfer. Given the kind of Russians who have two of the top five players in their ranks, the winners of the German ATP Finals would have needed Zverev to advance to the final for the first time since 1993.

After just two and a half hours, the whole match was decided. Struff played bravely in the main match against world number two Medvedev and started confidently, but the Russian was too strong. A weaker service game at 4: 5 destroyed all hope of winning the first set against the nearly flawless Russian favorites.

Sauerland had previously shown in this year’s Davis Cup finals that they can handle the pressure and twice tied a deficit after the loss in the first singles. This time he had no chance to turn the game around on serve and gave up his own serve to make it 2: 4. Just at 4: 5, Struff had the only chance to break.

Koepfer lost his match in just 49 minutes

Koepfer only spent 49 minutes on the Central Court of the Arena Madrid. Against the world number five Rublev, the world number 54 had to be humiliated in the second set with the maximum penalty in tennis. “It was by far his best game here in Madrid,” Koepfer praised Rublev’s performance.

In the first set, the 27-year-old was left behind with the loss of serve to 1: 2, in the second set the game was completely one-sided. The Black Forest was constantly under pressure. “The problem was the third game of the match, I was broken, then he played freely and above all he hit with his right,” Koepfer explained: “The way he served was difficult to get into the game.” In 1994, 1995 and 2007 in the Davis Cup semifinals the Germans finished against Russia in the semifinals. (dpa)