Germany, Italy Move One Point Away From Davis Cup Quarter-Finals

AUSTRALIA 1, GERMANY 2
Venue: Pat Rafter Arena, Brisbane, AUS (hard- outdoor)

After a change of nomination, Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff teamed up with Tim Puetz to move his nation one point away from a place in the quarter-finals after beating Australia’s Matt Ebden and John Peers 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-7(7), 6-4.

Struff, who lost in three sets to Nick Kyrgios on Friday, replaced Peter Gojowczyk in the third rubber and it proved to be a masterstroke from captain Michael Kohlmann as the visitors won a dramatic, five-set encounter.

Puetz and Struff hit 55 winners and made just 12 unforced errors in the third rubber, which lasted nearly three and a half hours, to give Alexander Zverev the chance to book Germany’s spot in the last eight when he meets Nick Kyrgios in Sunday’s first match.

Kyrgios leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Zverev 3-1 after getting the better of the No. 5 in three of their four matches on the ATP World Tour in 2017. The Australian, with the pressure of keeping the tie alive in Brisbane on Sunday, appeared confident as he prepared to take on a familiar rival.

“We played juniors together, we grew up together,” said Kyrgios. “We’re good mates so ranking goes out the window with us. I don’t mind playing him. We both know what we bring. I had some luck against him last year and that’s all it is. I know how to play against him, he knows how to play against me.”

JAPAN 1, ITALY 2
Venue: Morioka Takaya Arena, Morioka, JPN (hard – indoor)

After a five-set win on Friday, Fabio Fognini was drafted in to play a crucial third rubber alongside Simone Bolelli before the duo scored an important four-set win over Ben Mclachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 7-5.

Italian captain Corrado Barrazzutti’s decision to include Fognini was a risk, as the Italian number one was originally scheduled to rest ahead of Sunday’s reverse singles rubbers, but the decision proved successful, on the day, with Italy now just a point away from a fifth appearance in the quarter-finals in the past six years.

Fognini will need to recover quickly after nine sets of play in the first two days, as he plays the first reverse singles match on Sunday against a rested Yuichi Sugita. No. 41 Sugita won Japan’s only point of the tie so far, in five sets on Friday, and will need to win a second against Fognini to force the tie into a fifth, decisive rubber.