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Great Britain to face Alexander Zverev’s Germany in Davis Cup quarter-finals

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Great Britain will play Alexander Zverev’s Germany in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup in November.

Britain booked their return to the eight-team Finals, this year held in Bologna, over the weekend with a 4-0 victory against Ecuador at London’s Copper Box.

It is the first time Leon Smith’s side have reached the eight-team end-of-season event since 2023, when they fell at the first hurdle to Novak Djokovic’s Serbia.

The 2015 champions will have their work cut out to avoid the same fate given Zverev has shown a strong commitment to the competition, heading straight from winning his second grand slam title of the year at the US Open to Halle to help Germany defeat Croatia.

Alexander Zverev headlines a strong Germany team facing Great Britain (Getty)

The Germans also have a very strong doubles pair in US Open finalists Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz but Zverev is their only top-50 singles player, which should give Britain encouragement.

Smith already knows he will be without Jack Draper, with the former world number four calling an end to his season because of an ongoing arm problem, but he will hope to have both Arthur Fery and Cameron Norrie available.

Norrie was a last-minute withdrawal against Ecuador because of a minor injury but Fery and debutant Toby Samuel won their singles matches before Britain’s very strong doubles team of Henry Patten and Neal Skupski made sure of victory.

The Davis Cup Finals take place at the SuperTennis Arena from 24 to 29 November, with Britain lined up to play either Spain or Austria if they prevail against Germany.

Carlos Alcaraz did not play in the qualifiers this weekend but Spain still eased to victory over Chile and boast impressive strength in depth.

Hosts Italy are three-time defending champions having lifted the cup again last year despite the absence of world number one Jannik Sinner.

They will take on South Korea, the first Asian team to make the quarter-finals, while Czechia meet Canada in the other last-eight tie.

Playing the final stages of the tournament at one venue remains controversial, and Zverev criticised the format after Germany’s win against Croatia, while Smith highlighted the fervent atmospheres in the ties between Czechia and USA and Canada and France.

“That example of what happened in Prague, and actually in Quebec as well, 10,500 people, I think it’s really, really important to have that, because you won’t get that in a 6,000-seater in Bologna,” said the Scot.

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