Laver Cup: Fedal keeps Team Europe well ahead, despite Kyrgios singles win - UBITENNIS
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Laver Cup: Fedal keeps Team Europe well ahead, despite Kyrgios singles win

By Cody Fitzpatrick
5 Min Read
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At the start of the Laver Cup’s Day 2 Night Session, Team Europe held a commanding 7-1 lead over Team World.

At the end of the night, Europe led 9-3, having maintained the 6-point lead after Tomas Berdych lost them a singles match against Nick Kyrgios, and Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer won their much-anticipated doubles match over Jack Sock and Sam Querrey.

This put Team Europe ahead by 6 points, or two full matches, heading into Sunday. (Matches are worth 1 point on Friday, 2 points on Saturday and 3 points on Sunday.)

The start of the session didn’t look good for Team World. Kyrgios kicked off his match with an error-filled service game that allowed Berdych to begin the set with a break.

Kyrgios’s game came together as the set went on, but he was unable to get ahold of the big Berdych serve. Berdych stayed ahead the entire set, and won it 6-4.

Kyrgios, up 1-0 in Set 2, found a break point, but squandered it by missing a down-the-line forehand into the net. Up 2-1, Kyrgios had two more break points, but Berdych won both of those as well.

At 5-5 and 30-40, Kyrgios faced a virtual match point, but he fought it off with an ace out wide. The set proceeded into a tiebreak.

In it, Kyrgios gave up the first mini-break on a forehand that flew long. He got the break back, though, on a bad Berdych backhand.

Kyrgios later took a 6-4 lead with a backhand return winner down the line. He got the next point, too, winning the second set and forcing a supertiebreak to decide the match.

In the match tiebreak, which goes to 10 points, Berdych crucially double-faulted to go down 5-7.  Trailing 6-9, Berdych double-faulted again, giving Team World its first ever Laver Cup singles win.

This made the overall score 7-3, with Team Europe in the lead, and more Saturday points up for grabs in the main event: Federer and Nadal versus Sock and Querrey.

The Americans, with Querrey serving, held laughably easily in the first game of the match. Nadal took the ad court, and Federer took the deuce.

Federer then held his first service game just as comfortably. And Sock, with a hard, heavy forehand, split men’s tennis’s two most-accomplished players right down the middle to hold his serve as well. Nadal then held for 2-2.

On Sock’s serve at 3-3, Querrey struggled at the net, and Fedal broke for a 4-3 lead.

On the changeover, Nadal lamented to Federer that, in his singles match against Sock earlier in the day, he twice lost his serve immediately after breaking.

“Today, you have a net player,” Federer responded. “I hope to help you.”

As prophesied, Federer saved a break point with a volley winner off Sock’s return.  Fedal later got rid of another break point with a Federer volley that set up a Nadal down-the-line forehand winner. And on a third break point, Nadal hit a serve that Sock couldn’t get back in play. A fourth break point was saved by Federer with a volley winner, and Nadal ended the game for 5-3 with an ace.

Federer then served out the set to win it 6-4.

Sock and Querrey, in their effort to split sets, caught fire: breaking, then holding, then breaking again, then holding again — getting a breadstick to win the second set and send the match to a supertiebreak.

Team World lost its first service point of the match tiebreak, falling behind 0-2. Sock later double-faulted, bringing the deficit to 1-5. After the changeover, Sock lost his serve again. Fedal then held twice for 8-1.

The World got one break back to head into the second changeover down 4-8, but Federer and Nadal held on to win 10-5.

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