By Richard Pagliaro Saturday, November 22, 2025
Photo credit: Davis Cup Facebook
The doubles will decide tomorrow’s Davis Cup final.
Alexander Zverev beat Jaume Munar Germany’s Davis Cup hopes were preserved today with 7-6(2), 7-6(5).
“It’s nice to get the win,” Zverev said. “I didn’t feel great, but it was nice to get the win for our team.”
34-year-old veteran Zverev scores Germany 1-1 Spain Pablo Carreno Busta Conceded five set points in the decider against the 35-year-old German Jan-Leonard Straff In the first match of the semi-finals held today at the Super Tennis Arena in Bologna, the two sides won with a score of 6-4, 7-6(6).
The winner of the decisive doubles match will win the semi-finals and advance to tomorrow’s Davis Cup final against two-time defending champions Italy, who defeated Belgium yesterday.
Zverev hit the forehand hard and broke the first goal, 2-1. A backhand winner from the baseline helped the Germans chase the score to 3-1.
The strong-willed Munnar made a forehand error, tying the score at 3.
After the service game was tied at five, Munar used a sharp serve and volley to chase the score to 6-5 when trailing 15-30.
That’s when Zverev took his serve to another level.
Germany’s top-ranked player hit aces from four of five service points and sealed the victory with a wide ace to force a decider.
Zverev scored three of the first seven points of the decider to lead 5-2. On the first match point, Zverev hit a backhand winner after 57 minutes to take a set lead.
The former Olympic gold medalist hit seven aces in the first set, made no double faults, and hit 83% of his serve.
After all this great effort, Zverev blinked and mishit the ball first, and Munar broke in the 30th minute to take a 2-1 lead in the second set.
At the 1 hour and 23 minutes into the game, Zverev worked hard to defend a backhand corner kick, then stepped forward and scored with a beautiful forehand swing, making it 3-1.
In the tie-break of the second set, Zverev missed a forehand break and Munnar made four consecutive forehand errors, giving the German a 4-1 lead.
Munar saved two match points, including a high volley to bring the score to 5-6.
On his third match point, Zverev hit a service volley, hit a T-shaped serve, and then smashed the ball to end the match at 1 hour and 59 minutes and set up the decisive doubles.
Earlier, Carreno Busta faced Struff in a dramatic opener.
Struff, ranked 84th, saved three match points at 4-5 in the service game. Straff hit the serve hard to save the first match point, saved the second match point with a forehand winner, and erased the third match point with an inside volley, tying the score at 5.
A third set seemed inevitable when Struff led 6-1 in the decider, but Carreno Busta had other ideas.
Carreno Busta completed a comeback from 1-6 down in the second set tie-break. Veteran Carreno Busta broke five consecutive set points and scored seven points to defeat Straff 6-4, 7-6(6), giving the Spanish team a 1-0 lead.
