Tallon Griekspoor produced a thrilling comeback to help the Netherlands reach the Davis Cup final for the very first time after they downed Germany 2-0 in Malaga. (More Sports News)
After losing the opening set to Jan-Lennard Struff, Griekspoor held his nerve to emerge a 4-6&nꦗbsp;(4-7) 7-5 6-4 victor on an enthralling day of action on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Botic van de Zandschulp, who beat Rafael Nadal in the f෴inal match of the Spaniard's career on Tuesday, put the Dutch 1-0 up with a win over Daniel Altmaier.
The world number 80 needed 10 match points to wrap up a tense 6-4 6-7 (1♑2-14) 6-3 victory, after Altmaier saved five break points in a second set tie-break.
Griekspoor then stopped the best-of-three tie from going to the deciding doubles, rallying back with a fine display🐬, though Struff let two crucial br﷽eak points slip in the eighth game of the second set.
“We have been talking about this [moment] for two or three years,” said ꦇGriekspoor.
“We came here all the time with unbelievably tough draws, but we believe✤d in ourselves so much. We always felt like𝐆 this was possible.
"To do it now feels unb🐎elievable. I 🍬am so happy for the team, and for Holland.
“I just tried to focus on my own game. I felt like he was playing unbelievable🙈 tennis, I didn’t do much w꧅rong in the first set.
"I’m super proud of myself, su🐷per proud of the effort and very happy to get the win in the end.”
The Netherlands await either reignin𝐆g Davis Cup champions Italy or Australia, who fac🍰e off in the other semi-final on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Dutch delight
After reaching the semi-final stage for only the second time this century, the Netherlands produced arguably their finest ♕disꦦplay of the tournament against Germany.
It meant that after 185 ties played at the event across a 104-year timeframe, they had finally reached the showpiece match at the tꩵournament for the first time.
But their victory waꦇs made possible by Griekspoor, who converted both his break points, while fittingly sealing his encounter with his 25th ace of the contest.
