IMAGE: Tallon Griekspoor reacts after defeating Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in the second singles of the Davis Cup semi-finals and sealing a final berth for the Netherlands at Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena Arena, Malaga, Spain, on Friday. Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters
An inspired Netherlands team made Davis Cup history as they put their nation into the final for the first time ever with a 2-0 defeat of Germany on Friday.
Singles wins for Botic Van de Zandschulp and Tallon Griekspoor sparked a party amongst an army of orange-clad Dutch fans inside the Jose Maria Martin Carpena arena.
Paul Haarhuis’s team will face either defending champions Italy or Australia in Sunday’s final. They face each other in the second semi-final on Saturday.
Van de Zandschulp, the player who ended Spanish great Rafael Nadal’s career on Tuesday, held his nerve to beat Daniel Altmaier 6-4, 6-7(12), 6-3, although he required 10 match-points to give his side the edge in the semi-final.
The world number 80 has won all three of his rubbers this week, including beating Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers in the decisive doubles against Spain on Tuesday.
Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff looked like keeping the three-times champions in with a chance of reaching the final for the first time since 1993 as he led by a set and a break of serve against Griekspoor.
But 40th-ranked Griekspoor produced a stunning fightback to win 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4, capping the decisive win with his 25th ace.
“It’s unbelievable, we have been talking about this for two or three years,” the 28-year-old Griekspoor said on court.
“We came here all the time and had unbelievably tough draws, losing to finalists and winners and this year we had Spain in the quarter-finals, but we believed in ourselves so much and we felt like it was possible.”
IMAGE: Botic van de Zandschulp celebrates winning the opening singles against Daniel Altmaier by hitting a ball into the stands. Photograph: Jon Nazca/Reuters
The 29-year-old Van de Zandschulp looked on course for a comfortable win after taking the opening set and leading in the second. But he was dragged into a marathon 26-point tiebreak in which he saw five match points go begging before Altmaier stole it to take the match to a deciding set.
Van de Zandschulp got ahead in the decider only to allow Altmaier back but then broke serve again to lead 5-3 as both players struggled to maintain a high level.
Gripped by nerves he served three double faults as he tried to close out the match, one on a match point, but eventually got the job done.
The second singles was a much higher-quality duel with both players producing some stunning tennis on the fast indoor court.
Struff barely put a foot wrong in taking the first set but will rue not taking either of the two break points he had when Griekspoor served at 3-4 in the second set.
From that moment on Griekspoor, serving like a man possessed, charged back to outplay his opponent and kept his cool in the deafening noise to hold serve for victory.
Captain Haarhuis, who played in the Dutch Davis Cup team from 1990 to 2005, paid tribute to his players.
“For me it means I’m a finalist for the first time ever in the Davis Cup and to be part of this team who have played so well in the past five years,” he said.
“Especially unique as we don’t have the top five player, the top 10 player, but it’s a team effort and we have shown we can get here. The guys have a lot of confidence after this but we will have to come out there with big balls on Sunday and believe that it’s our time.”
