San Francisco (United States) (AFP) – American Taylor Fritz shocked world number one Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 6-2 as Team World swept all four matches at the Laver Cup on Saturday to power into the lead in the global tennis event. Fritz, ranked fifth in the world, notched his first victory over the Spanish superstar after three previous defeats, including in the semi-finals at Wimbledon this year.
Australian Alex De Minaur and Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo added singles victories, and De Minaur teamed with Alex Michelsen to win the doubles, giving captain Andre Agassi’s team a 9-3 lead over Team Europe. The first team to 13 points will lift the cup on Sunday, when each win is worth three points. “There’s no running out the clock, we’ve still got to get across the finish line,” Agassi said.
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Two weeks after beating Italian Jannik Sinner in the US Open final to claim a sixth Grand Slam crown and return to number one, Alcaraz was not at his sharpest. Fritz took full advantage with an aggressive game, breaking Alcaraz once in the first set and twice in the second, while saving both break points he faced. “I knew what I had to do before I came out here tonight, the question was just if I was going to be able to do it,” Fritz said. “I didn’t second guess myself, didn’t play too safe. I played with no fear on the big points.”
Alcaraz admitted it “wasn’t the match that I was expecting.” But he acknowledged, “I think I have to look to him. I think he played some great tennis. I feel like he was more on the court than me.” Agassi was an energetic observer and adviser on the sideline at Chase Center, home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Warriors superstar Stephen Curry received a warm reception when he officiated at the coin toss—assisted by retired Swiss tennis great and Laver Cup co-creator Roger Federer—before the Alcaraz-Fritz match.
Team World had trailed 3-1 after the opening day. But with victories worth two points on Saturday, Team World pulled level with Australian De Minaur’s 6-1, 6-4 win over world number three Alexander Zverev of Germany. Argentina’s Cerundolo then outlasted Denmark’s Holger Rune 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
World number eight De Minaur, a late replacement for the injured Frances Tiafoe, raced through the opening set and held firm as third-ranked Zverev kept it close in the second. De Minaur used his speed and a deft touch at the net, stating he needed to employ a wide variety of shots on the unusually slow Laver Cup surface. De Minaur even channeled Federer, who was in the stands, with an effective backhand slice. “He wrote the playbook, I just read it,” De Minaur said.
De Minaur and Michelsen closed the night with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Rune and Casper Ruud, in which even a bizarre injury to the Aussie couldn’t slow Team World. With a ball off Rune’s racquet headed for his head on set point in the opening set, De Minaur reflexively put his racquet up, resulting in a winner as well as a nasty cut on his ear from the frame, which required medical attention. “Eyes are on the ball, I’m not afraid of balls,” De Minaur said. “It was a good hit by him.”
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