Laver Cup
Scores stage at Laver Cup after Fritz/Shelton down Alcaraz/Zverev in doubles
Dimitrov edges Tabilo in Friday night singles conflict
September 20, 2024
Maja Hitij/Getty Photographs for Laver Cup
Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton in motion throughout Laver Cup doubles on Friday in Berlin.
By ATP Employees
The battle for the 2024 Laver Cup is intriguingly poised heading into Day 2.
Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton drew Group World stage at 2-2 with Group Europe after downing the host workforce’s star Friday-night doubles pairing of Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev 7-6(5), 6-4 within the last match of the day in Berlin.
All tied up 🔥
🔴 Group World: 2🔵 Group Europe: 2@Taylor_Fritz97/@BenShelton tie issues up after a 7-6(5) 6-4 win over Alcaraz/Zverev.@LaverCup | #LaverCup pic.twitter.com/XgtoSsulPo
— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 20, 2024
People Fritz and Shelton fired 20 winners, together with eight aces, en path to a 95-minute victory in opposition to the No. 2 within the PIF ATP Rankings Zverev and No. 3 Alcaraz, the latter of whom was making his Laver Cup debut. They sealed their win after clinching a vital break within the ninth recreation of the second set to revive parity for Group World within the annual groups occasion.
“We each served rather well below stress,” stated Fritz in his on-court interview. “Ben served extremely effectively, so I didn’t need to hit any volleys. That was big.”
Shelton added: “I used to be simply having enjoyable on the market to be sincere. It makes life fairly straightforward whenever you’re enjoying with a man who’s shifting like Taylor is correct now. Fairly gentle on his toes, and we had numerous enjoyable. Our first time enjoying collectively, and I believe the chemistry was fairly good.”
Grigor Dimitrov had earlier opened a 2-1 lead for Group Europe on the opening day with an exciting 7-6(4), 7-6(2) victory in opposition to Group World’s Alejandro Tabilo. The Bulgarian rallied from a double-break deficit at 1-5 to grab a straight-sets win and enhance to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head sequence with Tabilo.
Dimitrov, who was pressured to retire from his US Open quarter-final in opposition to Frances Tiafoe because of damage simply 16 days in the past, despatched down 11 aces and gained 80 per cent of factors behind his first function he overcame some extra bodily struggles inside Uber Enviornment. Along with his two-hour, 15-minute win, Dimitrov improved to 2-0 in Laver Cup singles matches after he beforehand defeated Tiafoe on his occasion debut in 2018 in Chicago.
There can be three extra singles matches and one doubles match in Berlin on Saturday, when every victory can be price two factors. Group World is bidding to win its third consecutive Laver Cup this yr after it triumphed in London in 2022 and Vancouver final yr.
