The doubles team of Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martinez won the deciding match to propel underdog Spain to a 2-1 victory over Germany in the semi-finals of the 2025 Davis Cup played in Bologna, Italy.
Spain, playing without the world’s top player Carlos Alcaraz, advances to Sunday’s Cup Finals match vs. two-time defending champion Italy.
After a split of the singles matches, Granollers, the sixth-ranked doubles player in the rankings, teamed with Martinez, ranked 98th, to defeat German veterans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Krawietz and Putz and tied for 11th in the rankings. They had only lost one prior Davis Cup match.
The Spanish duo broke the Germans at love in the fourth game of the deciding set. They faced one break point at 5-3, but captured three consecutive points to close out the match.
The match was of high quality, with both teams only making nine unforced errors in 1 hour, 47 minutes. The Spanish side collected 31 winners compared to 27 by the German duo.
Spanish veteran Pablo Carreno Busta opened the proceedings by knocking off Jan-Lennard Struff, 6-4, 7-6 (6). Carreno Busta staved off five set points and won the final seven of the second-set tie breaker to pull a minor upset over Struff.
Alexander Zverev, the third-ranked singles player in the rankings, squared the match at 1-1 with a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) victory over Jaume Munar.
Italy defeated Belgium, 2-0 on Friday to reach the title match.
Spain last won the Davis Cup in 2019 and is seeking its seventh title overall, while Italy is seeking its fourth Cup.
–Field Level Media
