Netherlands beat Germany to reach Davis Cup final for first time

MALAGA, Spain :An inspired Netherlands team made Davis Cup history as they put their nation into the final for the first time ever with a 2-0 defeat of Germany on Friday.

Singles wins for Botic Van de Zandschulp and Tallon Griekspoor sparked a party amongst an army of orange-clad Dutch fans inside the Jose Maria Martin Carpena arena.

Paul Haarhuis's team will face either defending champions Italy or Australia in Sunday's final. They face each other in the second semi-final on Saturday.

Van de Zandschulp, the player who ended Spanish great Rafa Nadal's career on Tuesday, held his nerve to beat Daniel Altmaier 6-4 6-7(12) 6-3, although he required 10 match points to give his side the edge in the semi-final.

The world number 80 has won all three of his rubbers this week, including beating Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers in the decisive doubles against Spain on Tuesday.

Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff looked like keeping the three-times champions in with a chance of reaching the final for the first time since 1993 as he led by a set and a break of serve against Griekspoor.

But 40th-ranked Griekspoor produced a stunning fightback to win 6-7(4) 7-5 6-4, capping the decisive win with his 25th ace.

"It's unbelievable, we have been talking about this for two or three years," the 28-year-old Griekspoor said on court.

"We came here all the time and had unbelievably tough draws, losing to finalists and winners and this year we had Spain in the quarter-finals, but we believed in ourselves so much and we felt like it was possible."

The 29-year-old Van de Zandschulp looked on course for a comfortable win after taking the opening set and leading in the second. But he was dragged into a marathon 26-point tiebreak in which he saw five match