Germany's Zverez edges Australia's de Minaur in Davis Cup opener

[February 02, 2018]  Alex de Minaur fell just short of a major upset in Davis Cup play Friday, as the 18-year-old Aussie lost 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to fifth-ranked German Alexander Zverez in Brisbane, Australia.

De Minaur, who is ranked 139th, led 3-0 in the fifth set, but Zverez rallied to capture the next three games and eventually put Germany up 1-0 in the best-of-five tie at Queensland Tennis Centre. The match lasted 3 hours, 59 minutes.

Despite his age and ranking, de Minaur was a solid choice for the Australian team given his recent form. Last month, he reached the semifinals in Brisbane, then got to his first career ATP Tour final at Sydney. He stumbled against 20th-ranked Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the opening round of the Australian Open.

Zverez said of de Minaur in his postmatch interview: "Australia, you have a good one with him." He added to the Aussie crowd, "Sorry to all of you that I had to win!"

Zverez, 20, was coming off a third-round Australian Open defeat to South Korea's Hyeon Chung.

In the second singles match Friday, Australia's Nick Kyrgios faced Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff.

Germany-Australia is one of eight World Group first-round ties being held weekend. Each tie consists of two singles matches on Friday, a double match on Saturday and the reverse singles matches on Sunday.

 

The other series on tap are the Netherlands at France, Italy at Japan, Great Britain at Spain, Switzerland at Kazakhstan, Canada at Croatia, the United States at Serbia and Hungary at Belgium.

The U.S. tie will be played on indoor clay in Nis, Serbia, and the Americans catch a break with Serbian star Novak Djokovic sitting out. The Friday matchups are American Sam Querrey against Laslo Djere and American John Isner vs. Dusan Lajovic.

Canada's match is also on indoor clay at Osijek, Croatia. Canada's Peter Polansky will face Borna Coric, and Canada's Denis Shapovalov will play Viktor Galovic in the Friday singles matches.

France beat Belgium in last year's final.

--Field Level Media

[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.