Daniil Medvedev sealed Russia’s place in the Davis Cup final with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jan-Lennard Struff giving his team an unassailable 2-0 lead over Germany here on Saturday.
The World No. 2 backed up Andrey Rublev’s straight-sets win over Dominik Koepfer in the first rubber to set up Russia’s clash with Croatia on Sunday.
The Russians, like the Croats, will be bidding for a third win in the competition.
Rublev ruthlessly exposed the gap between himself, ranked fifth in the world, and the 54th-ranked Koepfer. Rublev delivered nine aces, won 54 points and took all four break-points.
On Friday, Novak Djokovic’s dream of adding a second Davis Cup to his 20 Grand Slam titles was shattered when Croatia beat Serbia in the semifinals.
Djokovic and partner Filip Krajinovic lost 7-5, 6-1 to top-ranked Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic, the Olympic and Wimbledon champions, in the decisive doubles rubber.
Djokovic had earlier defeated Marin Cilic for the 18th time — 6-4, 6-2 — to pull Serbia level at 1-1 in the tie. It was his 19th successive Davis Cup singles win.
In the opening rubber, Borna Gojo, ranked a lowly 279, pulled off a surprise win over World No. 33 Dusan Lajovic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The results (semifinals): Russia 2 Germany 0 [Andrey Rublev bt Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-0; Daniil Medvedev bt Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-4].
Croatia 2 Serbia 1 [Borna Gojo bt Dusan Lajovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Marin Cilic lost to Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-2; Mate Pavic & Nikola Mektic bt Djokovic & Filip Krajinovic 7-5, 6-1].
