After Friday’s singles Denmark faced an early exit on the home ground in Royal Arena versus Serbia.
First Elmer Møller lost in three sets, after winning the first set. But a series of double faults in the second set, made it look like he was in over his head versus the Serbian favorite Miomir Kecmanovic, despite Elmer playing some great tennis along the way.
Møller lost 6 – 3, 2 – 6, 1 – 6, and pressure was on Holger Rune, to equalise vs. Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic.
After adjusting to Medjedovic’s powerful serve in the first games, Rune quickly won the first set 6 – 2 in 34 min, and it looked like a comfortable win with the support of most of Royal Arena.
But from the second set, Rune never found his feet and lost the game in three sets
6 – 2, 3 – 6, 1 – 6.
In the Davis Cup, the last games are canceled when a nation has secured the overall win, by winning three matches.
Saturdays comeback
Therefore the Danish hope was limited for Saturday’s three scheduled matches. First up was the double where Holger Rune and Johannes Ingildsen faced Serbia’s, Kecmanovic and Medjedovic.
Holger Rune was not initially scheduled to play the double, but replaced August Holmgren, as part of a tactical maneuver. Serbia replaced both scheduled players, Matej Sabanov and Ivan Sabanov, hoping to close the overall win in the doubles.
The Danes played aggressively and strongly, and won in two sets 6 – 4, 6 – 4, closing the gap to the Serbians by reducing the overall score to 1 – 2.
Suddenly the comeback seemed possible as Holger Rune was facing Miomir Kecmanovic. For both players, it was the second consecutive match of the day.
Rune came out very strong, eager to make up for Friday’s disappointment and won comfortably 6 – 2, 6 – 4.
Møllers magic
With the overall score now being 2 – 2, the game was to be decided in the fifth and final game, with Elmer Møller facing Serbia’s powerhouse Medjedovic, who like Rune also played the doubles, in Saturday’s opening match.
The support and the pressure were now on Møller, and he looked a bit shaken when Medjedovic opened with a serve ace, and Møller knocked off his own cap with the racket in a failed attempt to return the serve.
The first set was quickly lost 1 – 6, and Møller was down 2 – 4 in the second set before turning the match around and winning the second set by 6 – 4.
Now the game was all even, and Medjedovic started to look tired. Medjedovic called for a medical timeout but was able to finish the game.
Møller sensed the sensation, and kept his nerve, to finish the game with a 6 – 3 win in the final set, and the fairytale comeback became reality.
With the overall 3 – 2 win, Denmark will now face either Spain or Switzerland away in September’s second-round Davis Cup qualification.
