Taylor Fritz clinched the Laver Cup for Team World on Sunday with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Germany’s Alexander Zverev of Team Europe on the final day in San Francisco.
Team World won 15-9 to claim its third Laver Cup title in four years. The three-day hardcourt event featured three singles matches and one doubles match per day, from Friday through Sunday. A match victory Friday was worth one point, wins were two points on Saturday and three points on Sunday. The first team to 13 points won the event.
Earlier Sunday, Team Europe opened play with a doubles victory as Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Norway’s Casper Ruud downed Americans Alex Michelsen and Reilly Opelka 7-6 (4), 6-1 to close Team World’s lead to 9-6.
Australia’s Alex de Minaur got Team World to 12-6 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Czech Republic’s Jakub Mensik, but Alcaraz kept Team Europoe alive with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo for a 12-9 difference, leaving it up to the final match to determine the winner. Fritz, who knocked off Alcaraz on Saturday for his first career singles victory over a reigning top-ranked player, downed World No. 3 Zverev.
Chengdu Open
Top seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy had little trouble dispatching qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-3, 6-3 in Chengdu, China.
Musetti, the ninth-ranked player in the world, took advantage of 15 unforced errors by his opponent and hit 66 percent on first serves with seven aces.
He’ll next face Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan, who emerged from a battle of previous-round upset winners with Taro Daniel of Japan to win 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-2.
On the other side of the bracket, fourth-seeded Brandon Nakashima defeated fellow American Marcos Giron 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (3). That win set up a semifinal match for Nakashima with Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo, who came back to dispatch Australia’s Christopher O’Connell 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Lynk & Co Hangzhou Open
A day after ousting No. 1 seed Andrey Rublev, French qualifier Valentin Royer maintained his magic in defeating Learner Tien 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-2. Royer had 11 aces and 32 winners in the victory.
His semifinal opponent will be countryman Corentin Moutet, who won when Argentinian opponent Tomas Martin Etcheverry retired despite leading 6-3, 0-3 at the time.
In other quarterfinal action, No. 3 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan dominated Dalibor Svrcina 6-1, 6-1. He next faces China’s Yibing Wu, who ousted No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in an upset.
–Field Level Media
