The Davis Cup duel in Hungary is expected to be a hard-fought encounter. After a balanced first day, the German men’s tennis team still have to pick up two points
The German Davis Cup team, without Alexander Zverev, has to worry about making it through to the group stage after an even start. The score in the qualifying match in Hungary is 1:1 after the first day.
Dominik Koepfer impressed in Tatabánya with a 6:2, 7:6 (7:4) win against the Hungarian number one Fabian Marozsan. However, Jan-Lennard Struff was then beaten 3:6, 5:7 by Marton Fucsovics in front of around 6500 spectators. Everything is now wide open.
The German team is still two wins away from advancing to the next stage of the prestigious tennis competition and must win two of the three remaining matches. The German team had to do without Australian Open semi-finalist Zverev, who was ill, at short notice. The world number six canceled his initially planned trip to Hungary on Wednesday due to a viral infection.
Koepfer relieved after opening win
On Saturday, the doubles match with Tim Pütz and Kevin Krawietz is on the agenda. Struff will then play Marozsan before Koepfer faces Fucsovics. However, the team managers can still change the line-ups at short notice.
Struff, the German number one in the absence of Zverev, was unable to use Koepfer’s serve to take the hoped-for 2-0 lead. Unlike Marozsan, Fucsovics was able to get the crowd more on his side. Struff’s serves did not come off as desired and the 33-year-old from Sauerland was unable to convert eleven break chances into a break.
“You can break it down to those two things,” said the world number 24: “Unfortunately, it’s not enough. I didn’t do these two things well, that was enough to lose the match. I’m not going to bed feeling great, of course, but there’s no point in saying it wasn’t good. We have to continue tomorrow.”
Koepfer had initially been happy about a “great start to the weekend” and spoke of a mixture of joy and relief. Although he started a little nervously, he was quickly able to let go of the tension until the match points at the end. With the first break to 3:2, the man from the Black Forest gained confidence, played better and more courageously and extended his lead
Fair crowd in Hungary
“I played well. It helped that I was ahead early on,” summarized the 29-year-old. Playing in a team atmosphere and in front of a crowd like that is “obviously more fun”, he said. The spectators were “totally fair”.
In the evenly balanced second round, Koepfer fought his way into a tie-break against the Hungarian number one, who impressed in 2023 with a win against Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz. Leading 6:1, Koepfer missed three match points. Koepfer admitted that he got a little nervous again.
The winner of the duel qualifies for the group stage of the competition, which takes place at four different venues in September. In 2023, Germany and Zverev were defeated by Switzerland in the first round and missed out on a place in the group stage. In the relegation round in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany managed to advance without Zverev and Struff
