BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - Alexander Zverev has powered Germany through to the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup World Group, beating Australia’s Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the first reverse singles Sunday.
Germany went into Sunday’s play leading 2-1 after a doubles win Saturday. The final singles match between Australia’s Alex de Minaur and Jan-Lennard Struff was not played, giving Germany a 3-1 win.
“It’s an amazing feeling, hopefully this is just the beginning for us,” the fifth-ranked Zverev said.
German captain Michael Kolhmann agreed.
“Against a really strong Australian team it makes us really confident,” he said. “We showed we have a lot of good players, a lot of strong players. We showed that we are able to go further than this.”
Germany will play either Britain or Spain in the quarterfinals from April 6-8.
No. 14-ranked Kyrgios looked frustrated from the start of the match on hard courts at Pat Rafter Arena, and required a second-set medical timeout to receive treatment on his right arm.
Kyrgios was clearly restricted ahead of the second-set tiebreak, earning a point penalty to trail 4-0 after slamming his racket into the ground following another unforced error - he made 34 in the match.
“My biggest weapon (serve) was not really there and that affects the rest of my game,” he said.
Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt said the scoreline wasn’t indicative of the closeness of the tie.
“It’s obviously frustrating. Two of those five-set losses could have gone either way (but) that’s Davis Cup tennis,” Hewitt said. “You have two quality teams going at it. Sometimes that’s how it falls.”
On Saturday, Tim Puetz and late call-up Struff gave Germany its 2-1 lead, beating Matt Ebden and John Peers 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4.
On Friday, Zverev gave Germany a 1-0 lead with a 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over de Minaur before Kyrgios leveled for Australia with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Struff.
Australia will contest September’s World Group playoffs.
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