DEN BOSCH, Netherlands – Paul Haarhuis
and Sjeng Schalken beat Germany's David Prinosil and Jens
Knippschild 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on Saturday to send the Netherlands
through to the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time.
Their relatively comfortable victory in the doubles match
gave the hosts, who had lost all their six previous encounters
with Germany, an unassailable 3-0 lead in their world group
quarterfinal tie.
The Netherlands will challenge either France or Switzerland
for a place in the final.
"It's been a great weekend," said Dutch captain Tjerk
Bogtstra. "I had never expected we would be leading 3-0 after
the second day. But with the team we have, things like that are
possible. There is no star but all the guys are fantastic."
The Dutch pair got off to a flying start on the fast, indoor
court.
They broke with a crisp volley from Schalken in the second
game of the first set, which they won with Prinosil netting a
backhand on set point.
Another unforced error from a clumsy Prinosil offered the
home duo another break in the third game of the second set. The
Germans did not win a single break point until the seventh game
of that set.
After Haarhuis fired an ace to seal the second set, the
visitors clawed their way back into the match by earning four
break opportunities in the second game of the third set.
Haarhuis and Schalken survived all four. Both pairs then
held serve until in the 10th game Germany earned four set
points.
The hosts saved the first two but on the third, Schalken hit
a backhand long to give the set to Germany.
The Germans opened up a 2-0 lead in the fourth set but then
collapsed, failing to win another game.
A smash by Haarhuis, who lived up to his reputation as one
of the world's finest doubles players, gave two match points to
the Dutch pair.
Schalken downed an ace on the first to wrap it up after two
hours and 26 minutes.
"Managing early breaks in the first two sets was the key,"
said Bogtstra. "I was never really worried, even when the
Germans were leading 2-0 in the fourth set. I was confident. We
have a great doubles pair."
Jan Siemerink had set the Dutch team on course for victory
by overcoming Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 in the first of
Friday's opening singles matches.
Raemon Sluiter then crushed Prinosil 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 to make it
2-0 after the first day of action.
The Dutch team had impressed by trouncing defending
champions Spain 4-1 in the opening round last February but few
would have bet on them beating Germany after former Wimbledon
champion Richard Krajicek had to pull out with an elbow injury.
Three-times Davis Cup champions Germany had their own
problems as captain Carl-Uwe Steeb had do to without his most
reliable singles player, Tommy Haas, who had not fully recovered
from an ankle sprain.
Siemerink and Sluiter, fired up by great support from 9,000
orange-clad fans, gave their very best and the hosts' excellent
doubles pair put the icing on the cake.
"The Dutch players gave it all they had and we did not
fulfill our potential, which you have to do when you're play a
Davis Cup tie in a foreign country," said Steeb.
"We had our chances, especially as Krajicek was not playing,
but we could not take them. We now have to prove in the future
that we belong with the best teams in the world but on what
happened here, we would not have deserved to go further."
Germany had struggled past Romania 3-2 in the first round
and can only be looking back with nostalgia to the times when
the likes of Boris Becker and Michael Stich made them an
awe-inspiring team.
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