WORLD number one Carlos Alcaraz made a strong start to the Laver Cup with a doubles victory that extended Europe’s lead over Team World to 3-1 after the opening day.
The Spanish star partnered with Czech Jakub Mensik to defeat American duo Taylor Fritz and Alex Michelsen 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 in Friday’s closing match at the Chase Center.
Mensik completed a perfect day with his second victory after earlier beating Michelsen 6-1, 6-7 (3/7), 10-8 in a tense singles encounter that required a match tiebreaker.
The 20-year-old Czech showed remarkable composure after being broken while serving for the match in the second set’s ninth game.
Norway’s Casper Ruud gave Europe their first point by defeating big-serving American Reilly Opelka 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) in the tournament’s opening match.
Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca provided Team World’s sole victory with an impressive 6-4, 6-3 win over Europe’s Flavio Cobolli.
The 19-year-old newcomer rallied from 2-4 down in the first set before breaking twice in the second to delight his large Brazilian fan contingent.
Europe has dominated the competition by winning five of the first seven editions, though Team World claimed victory when last played in North America at Vancouver 2023.
The event features new leadership with France’s Yannick Noah replacing Bjorn Borg as Team Europe captain and American Andre Agassi taking over from John McEnroe for Team World.
Friday’s matches were worth one point each while Saturday’s schedule increases to two points per match across three singles and one doubles encounter.
The competition concludes on Sunday with all matches worth three points, and the first team to reach 13 points will lift the Laver Cup trophy. – AFP