BERLIN: Americans Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton defeated Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev 7-6(5) 6-4 in Friday’s doubles to draw Team World level with Team Europe at the of the first day of the Laver Cup.
After Europe secured a 2-point-to-1 lead following the singles matches, with Stefanos Tsitsipas thumping Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-1 6-4 and Grigor Dimitrov squeezing past Alejandro Tabilo 7-6(4) 7-6(2), Fritz and Shelton made sure the day would end with honours even.
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The blockbuster pairing of Wimbledon champion Alcaraz, who was making his Laver Cup debut, and world number two Zverev struggled to keep up with the American duo who scorched 20 winners to secure the win.
“We both served really well under pressure,” Fritz said during an on-court interview. “Ben served incredibly well, so I didn’t have to hit any volleys. That was huge.”
Bulgaria’s Dimitrov kicked off the evening session at the Uber Arena with his thrilling victory over Tabilo as he battled back from 5-1 down in the second set to beat the Chilean.
“Great fight,” Dimitrov said. “When I was down in the second set I just tried to be very patient and look after every point, point by point I started building a little bit more, and yeah, had good momentum coming into the tiebreak.”
Not everything went the way Dimitrov wanted, however, as he appeared to be in pain and grimaced several times during the match.
“The body’s been struggling, I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I feel like I’m playing great tennis but my body is not allowing me to push through a little bit more.”
Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo secured the day’s first point for Team World with a 6-4 6-4 win over world number nine Casper Ruud, withstanding an impressive start by the Norwegian before turning the match in his favour on the Laver Cup’s striking trademark black hard court.
Tsitsipas then got Europe on the scoreboard as he swept past Kokkinakis of Australia.
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Players from both teams arrived at Berlin’s Uber Arena dressed in black tuxedos and bow ties ahead of the three-day team contest that sees first-day victories worth one point apiece, with two points being awarded for wins on the second day, and three points each on the third and final day on Sunday.
