Davis Cup 2021, Semi Final, Saturday
The ATP Finals are over, Christmas is just around the corner – an exciting year is coming to an end for tennis fans. From a German perspective, it was also a particularly successful one, as Alexander Zverev won title after title, became Olympic champion and reached the finals. So winter break? No way! Because while many top stars are already enjoying the few weeks off, the Davis Cup is still on.
The competition of which many experts were of the opinion: Germany won’t be in it for long anyway. A quintet proves how wrong they were with this assessment. Two very exciting duels await us in the semi-final against Russia, starting with Andrey Rublev and Dominik Koepfer. Will it be as clear-cut as the bookmakers think?
Dominik Koepfer, Jan-Lennard Struff, Peter Gojowczyk, Tim Pütz and Kevin Krawietz are the five players who want to make history this weekend. The first semi-final in 14 years is on the cards, even if Germany is in the glaring outsider role.
Dominik Koepfer will kick off this semifinal when he meets Andrey Rublev at 1 pm. Never before have these two players met on court. Number 5 against number 54 – the sheer numbers read clearly. So let’s take a look at what the two have achieved in the Davis Cup.
Rublev is a frequent player who also competed in doubles. In Group A, he played Ecuador and Spain with Russia and had more trouble than he would have liked. 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 against Roberto Quiroz, the number 295 in the world? Not exactly convincing.
In the doubles with Aslan Karatsev, he also needed three sets to secure 2-1. He even lost his duel against Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, this opponent was also not among the best 100 in the world.
For the decisive point, he fought his way back to 2-1 in doubles with Karatsev. So it was quite a feat of strength that the world number 5 had to pull off. In the quarter-finals, Sweden was waiting, more precisely Elias Ymer, ranked 171st.
Rublev performed as usual at this Davis Cup. 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 – that was close! At least he spared himself the doubles, because Daniil Medvedev later made it 2-0 anyway. The 24-year-old has five matches under his belt, and he has not been completely convincing in any of them.
But that is not really surprising, because his last tournaments were anything but successful. He was already eliminated early in the finals, losing to Casper Ruud despite being in the lead. Since he lost the final in Cincinnati in August, his form has not been right.
Nevertheless, he has the bookmakers behind him, because not only Betano leads him against Dominik Koepfer with low odds around 1.15. There are far fewer facts to be gathered about the first German player.
Germany has two excellent doubles players in Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz, so Koepfer saves that for now. He has only been used twice in this Davies Cup, with light and shade.
His 7-6, 6-4 against Filip Krajinovic ensured that Jan-Lennard Struff was allowed to lose against Novak Djokovic and Krawietz/Pütz snatched the 2-1 in the end. A few days later, however, Koepfer had a much weaker day.
1-6, 5-7 against Jurij Rodionov, with such a performance he would probably have no chance against Rublev. In any case, he goes into Saturday’s match as a blatant underdog, the odds exceed 5.00.
He took a break against Great Britain, Peter Gojowzcyk stood in for him on the court and took the beating against Daniel Evans. Now Koepfer and Rublev will meet for the very first time, and in an immensely important match.
Many believe that if Germany loses the first match, it is already over. In the second match, the world number 2 is waiting for Jan-Lennard Struff, so a win for Dominik Koepfer would be immensely important
Germany may be the underdog, but the DTB team was already that against Great Britain. Dominik Koepfer is certainly not in top form, but Andrey Rublev has had better days.
The Russian has never been able to win in two sets at this Davis Cup,
I therefore trust the outsider to force a really tough match on him. And who knows, he might even take the lead and cause the next surprise in this tournament.
My tip: We’ll see more than 19.5 games!
