German has kept their chances of progressing to the knockout stages of the ATP Cup alive by scoring a vital 2-1 win over America.
The third seeds entered into the tie seeking their first win of the tournament after falling to Great Britain two days earlier. Taking on team USA, the European nation sealed victory by winning both of their singles matches on what was a roller-coaster day.
Struff gets first win
Jan-Lennard Struff needed two hours and 43 minutes to beat the 6ft 10 American John Isner 7-6, 4-6, 7-5. The world No.51 fired 55 winners, while Isner blasted 33 aces, but also 35 unforced errors in the loss. The German had lost his four previous meetings against Isner and he was thrilled to get the win.
” I am very happy to get the win over John (Isner). I wasn’t very happy with my performance against Great Britain so to come out and get the win against a very tough opponent is nice”.
Playing against the North Carolina native there is a very good chance you will have to play a tiebreaker and that is exactly what happened in the first set. The tiebreaker was a tight affair and it came down to the wire as Struff edged out the world No. 24 9-7 to take the first set.
However, The American bounced back in the second set breaking in the first game of the set for the early 1-0 lead. That one break of serve was enough for Isner as he served out the second set to send the match into a deciding third set.
Again the third set went down to the wire and at 5-4 Isner saved a match point. He then ended up saving another one at 6-5 before Struff prevailed on his third attempt to hand Germany a 1-0 lead.
Zverev seals tie for Germany
Alexander Zverev then recorded his second win of the tournament by defeating Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 28 minutes. Firing 24 winners, while Fritz hit 21 unforced errors in the loss.
” Besides the last game I think the match was pretty even and for my second match of the year the level was very high and very intense, very hard hitting,” said Zverev. “The most important is that Team Germany won and we have the best chance to go through.”
The German had the better start and put pressure on the American in the very first game of the match by breaking him right away and that one break of serve was all he needed to serve out the first set.
The beginning of the second set was a mirror image of the first with the Hamburg native breaking the world number 23 with a stunning backhand winner down the line on breakpoint for another early break advantage.
The match stayed on serve until the last game with the American fighting to stay in the match and he saved five match points before Zverev was able to close it out with an ace.
With the win Germany gets its first win of the tournament are still alive with a chance to win Group C and advance to the semifinals on Friday.
America gets on the board
In the last match of the tie, John Isner and Taylor Fritz beat the German doubles team of Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz 6-0, 6-3 in 56 minutes to avoid the sweep and earn some crucial points.
USA will now turn its attention to Thursday when it will face Great Britain in the last group tie for them while Germany will face Canada and those ties should decide who will advance to the semis.
