Germany defeated Greece on the third day of the ATP Cup, winning two out of three matches and ending Greece’s chances of moving to the final eight.
Stefanos Tsitsipas won his singles match in a convincing (6-1, 6-4) victory against Germany’s Alexander Zverev. The Greek finished the game with a serve rating of 299 while the German international, who is ranked seventh in the ATP Rankings, finished with a serve rating of 188. Tsitsipas and Zverev were both champions of the two most recent editions of the Nitto ATP Finals.
The singles victory brought pressure relief for the Greeks as they were already one point down against Germany following Michail Pervolarakis (6-4, 6-1) loss to Jan-Lennard Struff. The Greek youngsters lack of experience was shown in their duel as Struff delivered a high rate of successful returns throughout the whole match.
The round victory was then determined by the doubles match, in which Tsitsipas partnered with Pervolarakis against Germany’s Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies. Greece secured the first set 6-3, however repeated mistakes by Pervolarakis saw Germany draw the match 1-1 with a 6-3 victory.
The tie-breaker saw Greece and Germany fight to a gruelling finish in what is to be the most exciting tie-breaker of the competition. However Greece did not receive the desired outcome they had hoped, losing 17-15.
With Greece suffering their second ATP Cup defeat, they will not be continuing into the Final Eight and have instead secured a place for home country Australia.
Greece will still face Australia on January 7, with Michail Pervolarakis facing Greek Australian player Nick Kyrgios in the singles round one, followed by Tsitsipas facing off against Australian youngster Alex De Minaur.
