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Davis Cup: Germany defeats Australia 3-1

NICK Kyrgios lost his cool and he paid for it dearly as Australia were completely dominated by Germany in the Davis Cup.

James McKernJames McKern
@jLmcKern
5 min read
February 4, 2018 - 4:55PM
Nick Kyrgios has it all to play for today.
Nick Kyrgios has it all to play for today.

Live Davis Cup: Australia vs Germany

Australia have been toppled by a dominant team Germany and will now have to take part in a play-off in September.

AUSTRALIA have been swpet aside after Nick Kyrgios was handed a straight sets loss at the hands of a merciless Sascha Zverev.

The 3-1 lead means Germany will advance into the further stages of the campaign, while Lleyton Hewitt will be left to rue what could have been before a play-off in September.

Under new Davis Cup rules, the fifth and final match won’t take place.

Sascha Zverev defeats Nick Kyrgios: 6-2, 7-6, 6-2

3.00pm

Australia dominated by team Germany

A relentless Sascha Zverev dominated a less than 100 per cent Nick Kyrgios as he led Germany to Davis Cup victory.

The straight sets win hands the visitors an unassailable 3-1 lead and means that under new rules, the fifth and final contest won’t be played.

Sadly for the Australian’s another Davis Cup comes and goes without victory being captured, was Bernard Tomic actually telling the truth when he said they couldn’t win without him?

2.42pm

Have the wheels completely fallen off

The end looks near as Zverev breaks for the second time in the third set to grab the 3-1 lead and push Germany ever closer to victory.

Kyrgios has struggled with his movements around the court but will need to produce a miracle if he’s to turn this around.

2.30pm

Kyrgios blows up after dropping set points

With Nick Kyrgios looking below 100 per cent, the German star is still fighting for every single point and was in a big hole during the 12th service game of the second set.

Holding a 15-40 advantage, Kyrgios had two chances to take the second set but was unable to capitalise on the opportunity.

The game went the way of Zverev who forced a tiebreaker and caused some serious frustration out of the Aussie star.

Having already received a code violation early in the contest, Kyrgios smashed his racquet in anger during the tiebreak and was handed a second.

Gifting Zverev a point before ultimately losing the second set and falling behind two sets to love.

2.00pm

Kyrgios receiving medical treatment

Nick Kyrgios is currently leading the second set 4-3 but has called a medical timeout.

Receving treatment for his ongoing elbow concern that has plagued him throughout the summer.

Taking exception to the timeout call, Zverev again had words with the chair umpire for giving the timeout when it was in fact his turn to serve.

1.45pm

Second set battle unfolding

After being swept asied in the opening set, Nick Kyrgios went to the sidelines and looked visibly uncomfortable as he shook his head and grabbed at his elbow.

While no injury concerns have been raised, he hasn’t look like the usual Kyrgios out on the court.

With a huge battle on his hands, he is trying to fight this contest out with pure power and behind his booming serve is holding a 3-2 lead.

Zvereve will be looking to run him around the court more to take advantage of any potential injury concerns.

1.25pm

Foot fault rule makes star see red

The first set came and went past in a flash as Zverev blasted his way to a 6-2 lead behind a double break.

But it was during the fifth game of the set that brought about confusion and anger from the German camp.

As Nick Kyrgios got set to deliver a serve, he was called for a foot fault but the chair umpired undid the call and labelled it a first serve.

Zverev didn’t take the call kindly as he walked towards the chair.

“His back foot behind the line, that counts as a service motion,” Zverev said.

“Correct that is part of the motion, but it’s not actually a foot fault until he hits it,” the chair umpire responded.

As Zverev began to walk backwards heading to the baseline, he continued his discussion with the man in charge.

“If you were to call it five seconds later, it would’ve been a foot fault, so what’s the difference when you called it?” Zverev questioned.

The confusion wasn’t only on the court as tennis fans weren’t left scratching their heads.

1.15pm

Zverev gets early break

Both players held their opening service game with ease before Nick Kyrgios fell apart during his second game.

Zverev jumped the serve and caught Kyrgios inside the baseline on several occasions as he broke his serve comfortably to grab an early 2-1 lead.

1.00pm

de Minaur speculation looms

The sight of John Millman practising with the Australian team has further fuelled speculation that rookie teenager Alex de Minaur may miss what looms as a crunch Davis Cup singles rubber against Germany in Brisbane on Sunday.

However, Australian team captain Lleyton Hewitt was hopeful the plucky de Minaur would back up from his draining debut and contest the fifth — and possibly deciding — rubber of the first round tie at Pat Rafter Arena.

Australia must win both reverse singles rubbers to qualify for April’s quarterfinals after Matthew Ebden and John Peers succumbed in five sets to Germany’s Tim Puetz and Jan-Lennard Struff in a three hour doubles epic on Saturday, giving the visitors a 2-1 lead.

Australian No.1 Nick Kyrgios will first line up in his much anticipated clash with world No.5 Alex Zverev, a match Hewitt predicted would be a five set thriller.

De Minaur — just 18 — is then scheduled to face German No.2 Struff in what could be the tie decider.

However, there were doubts whether de Minaur would be able to back up after Millman — not the teenager — was seen hitting with world No.14 Kyrgios on Saturday.

World No.139 de Minaur was exhausted after finally succumbing in a five set, almost four hour loss to German star Zverev on Friday.

Hewitt said de Minaur would be given more time to prove his fitness. Asked about world No.108 Millman practising, “You can read into it that Alex had a long match yesterday, nearly four hours.

“Hopefully he pulls up well.

“We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. That’s all stuff we will talk about after they get treatment.”

German team captain Michael Kohlmann was surprised Kyrgios did not play doubles on Saturday but looked forward to seeing him line up against Zverev.

“That was the match everyone was hoping for, everybody was talking about — now we will see,” Kohlmann said.

“I think that Nick, if he’s on and feeling it, he’s tough to play for everybody, not only for Sascha (Zverev).

“But Sascha doesn’t have the big pressure to deliver now we are 2-1.

“It might change just a bit in the mental game and the mental game right now in tennis is pretty huge.”

— AAP

Read related topics:Nick Kyrgios

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/live-davis-cup-australia-vs-germany/news-story/cdac02998e2698052d966ff0b8b1f2fd