The Netherlands reached the Davis Cup final for the first time with a battling 2-0 win over Germany on Friday, with captain Paul Haarhuis labeling the feat "unique."

Tallon Griekspoor ground down Jan-Lennard Struff 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-4 in the second singles rubber to eliminate the three-time winner in the semifinals.

Botic van de Zandschulp beat Daniel Altmaier 6-4, 6-7 (12/14), 6-3 in a hard-fought opening match to set Netherlands on its way.

Jannik Sinner’s Italy, the defending champion, faces Australia in the second semifinal on Saturday.

The Dutch knocked out Rafael Nadal’s Spain in the last eight on Tuesday, advancing to their first final in 104 years of competition.

“What we’re doing is more unique than, let’s say, Italy, with the No 1 player (Sinner) in the team,” said Haarhuis, who was in the team last time they made the semifinals 23 years ago.

“The key is the team effort, the belief in ourselves. It was our goal to not lose in the quarterfinals for the third straight year, we believed we could do it,” he added.

Germany, who last triumphed in 1993, hoped to reach a sixth final.