(Paris) Europe and the rest of the world are tied at 2 points each at the end of the first day of the Laver Cup, Friday in Berlin, with Americans Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton notably winning the doubles against Carlos Alcaraz/Alexander Zverev.
Published at 6:15 p.m.
It was Team World, led by the legendary John McEnroe, who opened the scoring in singles thanks to the victory of the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo against the Norwegian Casper Ruud (6-4, 6-4).
The European team, with the no less legendary Björn Borg as coach, then equalised in the second match, easily won by the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas against the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis (6-1, 6-4).
In the 3rd match, Chilean Alejandro Tabilo fought well against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, losing in the 1st set only 7-6 (7/4) before making a double break in the 2nd to lead 5-1. But the Bulgarian came back to 5-4 in a very tight match. The Chilean then lost a set point, allowing the Bulgarian to come back to 5 games all before winning again 7-6 (7/2) after 2 hours and 15 minutes of play. Europe then led 2 points to 1.
Victory of the “World” in the doubles
The two teams continued with a doubles match between the European pair Carlos Alcaraz/Alexander Zverev and the Americans Taylor Fritz/Ben Shelton. The “world” pair quickly broke in the first set, but the Europeans held on to come back to 5 games all and then force their opponents to a tiebreak that they won to claim the first set 7-6 (7/5).
PHOTO ANNEGRET HILSE, REUTERS
A doubles match between the European pair Carlos Alcaraz/Alexander Zverev and the Americans Taylor Fritz/Ben Shelton
The Americans then broke in the second set to find themselves ahead 5-4 on their serve and conclude 6-4 to put Europe and the rest of the world back on level terms on the evening of the first of three days.
Launched in 2017 by Roger Federer, the “Laver Cup” – an exhibition inspired by the Ryder Cup in golf and named in homage to the Australian Rod Laver, the last author of the calendar Grand Slam, in 1969 – pits six players from the cream of the European crop against six others representing the “rest of the world”.
The matches are played in two winning sets with a possible super tiebreaker (10 points). There are four matches per day (three singles and one doubles).
On Friday, a victory is worth 1 point, on Saturday, 2 points and on Sunday, 3 points. The first of the two teams to obtain 13 points out of a possible 24 wins. The European team won the first four editions, the World team the last two.
Laver Cup match results on Friday:
Simple :
Francisco Cerundolo (ARG/N°31) bat Casper Ruud (NOR) 6-4, 6-4
Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE/N° 12) bat Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS/N° 78) 6-1, 6-4
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL/N°10) Alejandro Tabilo (CHI/N°22)
Double :
Taylor Fritz/Ben Shelton (USA) battent Carlos Alcaraz/Alexander Zverev (ESP/GER) 7-6 (7/5), 6-4
