Australia now awaits Spain or Croatia in the semifinals

Australia qualified this Tuesday for the semifinals of the Davis Cup, in the final eight that will take place at the Martín Carpena pavilion in Malaga, by losing 2-0 Netherlands in the first quarterfinal matchup.

The yellow team took the lead thanks to jordan thompsonwho defeated Tallon Griekspoor 4-6, 7-5 and 6-3, and sealed the victory with a 5-7, 6-3 and 6-4 Alex de Minaur endorsed Botic Van de Zandschulp.

The Netherlands are the only team in these finals, along with Canada, who have never won a ‘silver bowl’

Australia’s rival in the semifinals will appear in Wednesday’s match between Spain and Croatia, at the same stage starting at 4pm.

Van de Zandschulp (35 on the ATP), the main man responsible for the orange team qualified for the Malaga finals with his impeccable performance in the group stage -including a two-set victory over the American taylor fritz-, he started the same way, very confident in his chances against De Miñaur (24) where he did not get a single breaking point in the first set.

But the best of the Australian’s game, the stiletto tennis he hasn’t shown as much as he would have liked, was revealed in the second set, where an early break allowed him to row in favor of the current. With another ‘break’ he closed the set.

With mostly Dutch fans in the stands, the local public rallied for De Miñaur, the son of a Uruguayan and a Spaniard and received shouts of support in perfect Spanish, ‘come on, Alex’, ‘come on, Alex’. From his bench, captain Lleyton Hewitt was always supportive.

Van de Zandschulp was lured to the net and easily beat the Australian on several occasions, but De Minaur was undaunted. The battle went to 4-4, with the Dutchman keeping his eye on the ball and excelling on the parallels but not converting his break points.

De Minaur -not an ‘ala’ throughout the game- had to beat the rest. Although his rival cooperated selflessly, with a double fault and several mistakes that condemned the tie.

The Australian thus extended a superb run in Davis, with victory in nine of his last ten games.

Before, with the crash that opened the trackJordan Thompson from less to more than before Tallon Griekspoor, was exhausted at the end after dominating the first set and gave himself up in a futile attempt not to lose the second.

The two players traded breaks at the start, but in the early stages Griekspoor looked the more willing to attack, ready to take a deep forehand for a walk that gave him a big return.

The Dutchman was blanked for 3-2, benefiting from the ups and downs of Thompson’s serve, 84 on the ATP and he has yet to face. The first set fell to the European side after 43 minutes.

At 3-3 in the second set, the closest game so far was played, with seven tie and lead situations before Thompson held serve.

The clash entered its closest phase, as the Australian found her serve – she finished the encounter with 16 straight points – and Griekspoor found it increasingly difficult to hold hers. At 6-5 and a break, Thompson made his last chance to avoid a tiebreaker game and guarantee himself a third set.

In it, the balance remained until 3-2, when the Sydney player hit the break that would be the final. He was physically fresher than his opponent, who lost on accuracy and won on mistakes. The right hands that used to lick the lines began to fall into the wasteland. A fighter to the last moment, he signed his last serve on the white before handing Australia the first point.

“Probably the best atmosphere in which I have played,” said Griekspoor after his defeat, after continuing to receive the support of hundreds of orange fans, an audience of ten who also encouraged their rivals when worthy they should be.

Australia’s 2-0 victory clinched one of the most fascinating doubles matches to take place today, one that will measure the Australians. Matthew Ebden and Max Purcellreigning Wimbledon champions, and the Dutch Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoopthe first current world number one.