The Netherlands made history this Friday, a day when a big tribute did not come as expected for Rafa Nadal. It was the Dutch who initiated the removal of the Mallorcan legend last Tuesday at dawn, and in the semi-finals they continued the party by removing Germany with sweat, difficulty and merit.
In 104 years of participation in the tennis world cup, the Netherlands had never reached the finals, especially in the semi-finals, the last time in 2001. They will play this Sunday at the José MarÃa MartÃn Carpena Sports Palace against the winner of Italy – Australia.
First, Botic Van de Zandschulp, the Dutchman who retired Rafa Nadal by defeating him in the first round of the quarterfinals, added 1-0 to the Netherlands against Daniel Altmaier in a strong match that refused more than necessary (6-4, 6-7 (12) and 6-3).
Then, in the duel of number 1, two tennis players with the most similar levels according to the ATP ranking were observed, Tallon Griekspoor and Jan-Lennard Struff, only three places apart between the German (43) and the Dutch (40).
They were two professional servers, facing each other. It shows in the numbers: there were 38 direct aces in the game, 25 for Griekspoor and 13 for Struff. In the first game, neither of them could break the other and the break came, when Struff was better to score the first set.
This continued until the German almost broke in the eighth game of the second set, but Griekspoor saved up to two balls with cool blood and several decorative points that lifted the ‘orange’ fans.
Talloon took advantage of the same feeling and accompanied it with impressive leads and difficult shots of Struff until he had his moment: in the end he was able to beat him from the rest and make it 7-5 to force a final performance.
The tennis player dressed in white pants and a t-shirt with an orange cap went there boldly. He lost his singles match against Carlos Alcaraz in the previous round, but he fought back against Struff to take the final set 6-4 and put his country on the big show. (EFE)