LONDON : Newly crowned U.S. Open champion Alexander Zverev sent Germany into the Davis Cup Final 8 on Sunday, beating Croatia’s Dino Prizmic to secure an unassailable 3-1 lead in Halle, while Spain also advanced.
Britain also booked their place in the eight-team finals by completing a 4-0 victory over Ecuador in London.
Austria, Canada, South Korea and the Czech Republic had secured their places on Saturday, while defending champions Italy qualified automatically.
Zverev had put Germany ahead on Saturday with a straight-sets win over Matej Dodig, but Prizmic levelled the tie by beating Daniel Altmaier.
Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz restored Germany’s lead by winning Sunday’s doubles before Zverev completed the victory with a composed 6-2, 6-4 win over Prizmic.
Spain advanced without world number one Carlos Alcaraz, beating Chile 3-0.
Teenager Rafael Jodar impressed on his Davis Cup debut, defeating Cristian Garin on Saturday after Daniel Merida had edged Alejandro Tabilo.
Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar completed Spain’s clean sweep on Sunday, beating Tabilo and Tomas Barrios Vera in the doubles.
Britain were also missing leading players Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie but proved too strong for Ecuador.
Toby Samuel and Wimbledon semi-finalist Arthur Fery won their singles matches against Andres Andrade and Alvaro Guillen Meza on Saturday before Henry Patten and Neal Skupski secured the tie with a doubles victory at London’s Copper Box.
The Final 8 will be held over six days in Bologna in November, with the teams competing for the Davis Cup title.
