Germany Tops Blue Group To Reach Final

© Bongarts/Getty ImagesPhilipp Kohlschreiber sealed Germany's place at the top of the Blue Group.

GERMANY 2, RUSSIA 1
Germany will play Argentina in the final of the Power Horse World Team Cup for the third time after Philipp Kohlschreiber sealed the four time champion’s position at the top of the Blue Group with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny. Philipp Petzschner had given the German team a 1-0 lead on Thursday by defeating Igor Andreev.

After losing his serve twice against the No. 13-ranked Youzhny to surrender the opening set, World No. 44 Kohlschreiber hit back with five breaks of serve to claim the decisive victory in two hours and 17 minutes. Victory marked the 27-year-old Kohlschreiber’s 200th tour-level win. He also beat Youzhny in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome last week.

“It feels good to be in a final again," said Kohlschreiber. "We had a tough group, anybody could beat anybody. Patrik [Kuhnen - captain] and the team helped me get back on my feet after losing the first set. I came back fighting. Now we’ll fully concentrate on the final. We are slight favourites, have the crowd on our side. Argentina has a well-balanced team; it will be quite a ride.”

Russia earned a consolation victory in the doubles as Igor Andreev and Dmitry Tursunov overcame Florian Mayer and Petzschner 7-6(6), 6-4.

Despite Serbia beating Spain to also finish the Blue Group with a 2-1 record, it was Germany that advanced to the final having beaten Serbia earlier in the week. The home nation is bidding to win the ATP World Tour Team Championship for a record fifth time after victories in 1989 (d. Argentina), 1994, 1998 and 2005 (d. Argentina).

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SERBIA 2, SPAIN 1
World No. 32 Janko Tipsarevic defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver to give Serbia an unassailable 2-0 lead over Spain, but the victory proved to be in vain following Germany’s win over Russia. The 26 year old broke serve four times from nine opportunities to prevail in one hour and 34 minutes and back up Viktor Troicki’s win over Marcel Granollers on Thursday. Spain won the closing doubles tie as Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez defeated Dusan Lajovic and Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 6-1.

The 2010 Davis Cup champion, Serbia, was bidding to win the Power Horse World Team Cup in Dusseldorf for the second time after victory in 2009.

SWEDEN 2, KAZAKHSTAN 1 
After the singles rubbers were split on Thursday, Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt earned Sweden its first point of the week by defeating Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev and Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6(6), 6-1 in 78 minutes on Friday at the Rochusclub. The four-time champion closed the Red Group in third position with a 1-2 record

ARGENTINA 3, UNITED STATES 0
Red Group winner Argentina completed a 3-0 whitewash over the United States as Maximo Gonzalez and Juan Monaco defeated John Isner and Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-4 in the closing doubles rubber. Singles victories for Monaco and Juan Ignacio Chela on Thursday had won the tie for Argentina.