Spain and Germany will face off in the semi-finals of the Davis Cup after coming through respective last-eight ties in Bologna with the Czech Republic and Argentina on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Spanish came back from one match down to beat the Czech Republic<\/a> 2-1<\/a>, while Germany<\/a> – and world number three Alexander Zverev<\/a> – saw off Argentina<\/a> by the same scoreline<\/a>.<\/p>\n Marcel Granollers<\/a> and Pedro Martinez<\/a> beat Tomas Machac<\/a> and Jakub Mensik<\/a> 7-6 (8), 7-6 (8)<\/a> to seal Spain<\/a>‘s passage to the last four.<\/p>\n Jaume Munar<\/a> set Spain<\/a> up to win the tie by beating Jiri Lehecka<\/a> 6-3, 6-4<\/a> and levelling up the match after Pablo Carreno Busta<\/a> was beaten by world number 19 Mensik 7-5, 6-4<\/a>.<\/p>\n No Alcaraz, no worries<\/p>\n Spain’s biggest star,\u00a0Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>, pulled out of the tournament on Tuesday with a hamstring injury suffered during his defeat to Jannik Sinner<\/a> in the title match of the ATP Finals on Sunday.<\/p>\n The six-time Grand Slam champion said in the aftermath of that defeat that his hamstring hadn’t affected him, even though it was strapped up during a medical timeout.<\/p>\n World number one Alcaraz is one of three top-10 players to have dropped out of the Davis Cup finals in northern Italy<\/a>, where fans have also been denied the chance to see Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti<\/a> play for the Azzurri.<\/p>\n Former Olympic champion Zverev is the highest-ranked player left at the Davis Cup finals, and he drew the later tie level by beating Francisco Cerundolo<\/a> 6-4, 7-6 (3)<\/a>, after Tomas Martin Etcheverry<\/a> put Argetina ahead by with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7)<\/a> win over Jan-Lennard Struff<\/a>.<\/p>\n Germany secured a clash with Spain on Saturday after Kevin Krawietz<\/a> and Tim Puetz<\/a> came through a three-set epic against Andres Molteni<\/a> and Horacio Zeballos<\/a> 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Krawietz and Puetz emerged victorious at just past 01:00 on Friday morning in Italy (midnight GMT), after wasting three match matches at 6-3 in the third set tie-break.<\/p>\n