Laver Cup | World Team Stands Out

(Paris) Victorious on Saturday in two of the three singles and the doubles, the World team took the lead 8 to 4 against Europe, during the second day of the Laver Cup, Saturday in Berlin.

Europe and the rest of the world were tied at 2 points each on Friday after the first day.

Team World, led by former world number 1 John McEnroe, won Saturday’s first singles match thanks to American Frances Tiafoe, who beat Russian Daniil Medvedev (3-6, 6-4, 10-5).

After losing the first round, the American (16^e world number 5) quickly got back into the match by breaking the world number 5 right away to not lose his lead until the end of the set and then winning in the super tiebreaker.

Trailing 4-2 after this first match, the European team, led by Swedish legend Björn Borg, came back into the game thanks to Carlos Alcaraz’s clinical victory over Ben Shelton (6-4, 6-4).

Winner of Roland-Garros and Wimbledon this year, the Spaniard (N.3) was particularly effective in crucial moments, saving five break points against the American, who lost his first sets of the competition.

The rest of the world moved back in front (6-4) thanks to the success of the American Taylor Fritz against the German Alexander Zverev. The recent finalist of the United States Open and now world number 7 won 6-4, 7-5 in just under two hours against the number 2.

The doubles team formed by the American Ben Shelton and the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo brought two additional points to the World Cup (8 to 4) by easily winning in the evening 6-1, 6-2 against the duo composed of the Norwegian Casper Ruud (N.9) and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (N.12).

Launched in 2017 by Roger Federer, the Laver Cup – an exhibition tournament 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.