Netherlands beat Germany to reach first Davis Cup final

Botic Van de Zandschulp hits a ball into the crowd after his win in Malaga on Friday. Pic/AFP

The last man to face and beat Rafael Nadal in professional tennis, 80th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp, converted his 10th match point Friday to finally close out a 6-4, 6-7 (12), 6-3 victory over Daniel Altmaier and help the Netherlands reach its first Davis Cup final by sweeping Germany.

Tallon Griekspoor, who is ranked 40th, sealed the 2-0 win for the Dutch in the best-of-three-match semi-final by hitting 25 aces and coming back to defeat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4. When it ended, appropriately, on an ace, Griekspoor shut his eyes, dropped to his knees and spread his arms wide.

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"We have been talking about this for two, three years," Griekspoor said. "We believed in ourselves so much. We always felt like this was possible. To do it now feels unbelievable."

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