Germany began�the defense of their ARAG ATP World Team Championship title with a nail-biting win Sunday. The four-time winners beat Italy 2-1 in the first meeting between the two nations since 1981.

Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske sealed the crucial points for Germany courtesy of a 6-4, 6-4 doubles victory over Italians Davide Sanguinetti and Filippo Volandri.

Earlier in the day, Nicolas Kiefer had got host nation Germany off to an excellent start at the Rochusclub in north-east of Dusseldorf.

Kiefer, ranked 41 places above Volandri in the INDESIT ATP Rankings, needed one hour and 48 minutes for a 7-6(10), 6-3 win to give Germany a 1-0 lead.

For the first time in the 29-year history of the event, Kiefer became the first player to wear a number on the back of his shirt. The 28-year-old wore �Kiefer 69� as an indication of his support of Hannover 96 football club.

Without the services of Tommy Haas, who withdrew on Thursday due to an illness he picked up at ATP Masters Series Hamburg last week, German captain Patrick Kuehnen looked to Philipp Kohlschreiber.

But Kohlschreiber was unable to give the four-time winners an unassailable lead in the second singles match losing to 33-year-old Davide Sanguinetti 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Twenty-five years ago, the two nations met on the last round robin day of the �Red Group�, with Germany triumphing 3-0 thus ensuring third place in the group after two defeats by Australia and the United States.

Turning out for the German team that day was Uli Pinner, Rolf Gehring and Klaus Eberhard, while Italy was represented by Corrado Barazzutti and Paolo Bertolucci.