The inaugural Laver Cup was held at the O2 arena in Prague, in September last year, with Team Europe, led by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, defeating Team World 15-9. The second edition of the Laver Cup took place in Chicago last weekend, and Team Europe ruled again with a 13-8 victory.
The event is played over 3 days: each day 4 matches are played, 3 singles and a doubles. Each win is worth one point on Friday, 2 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. Matches are played in the best of 3 sets, with a 10-point match tiebreaker in the third. The winning team must reach 13 points. In case of a tie, a doubles match is played as a regular set to determine the winner.
On day 1, Team Europe won the 3 singles, while Federer and Djokovic lost in doubles against the pair of Kevin Anderson and Jack Sock.
On day 2, Team Europe led by 7 to 1 after Zverev’s win over Isner and Federer tennis lesson to Kyrgios. But Team World rallied back to 5-7 after Kevin Anderson’s surprising win over Novak Djokovic and Kyrgios and Sock doubles victory over Dimitrov and Goffin.
Team World led for the first time of the weekend after another doubles victory in day 3’s opening match! But Federer put Team Europe ahead by saving three match points to defeated Isner. And finally it all came down to Zverev, who dropped the first set before leveling at one set all and winning a thrilling match tiebreaker against Anderson. 13-8, Team Europe retains the title!
Next year’s competition will take place in Geneva, Switzerland from 20-22 September.
| Roger Federer / Alexander Zverev | John Isner / Jack Sock | 6–4 6–7 [9–11] | 7–8 |
| Roger Federer | John Isner | 6–7 7–6( [10–7] | 10–8 |
| Alexander Zverev | Kevin Anderson | 6–7 7-5 [10-7] | 13–8 |
Photo credit: Christian Cresante
It’s already over for Nick Kyrgios beaten by big server Kevin Anderson. The South African rallied from a set and a break down to stun the 18th seed 5-7 6-4 6-1 6-2. He will face Kyle Edmund in the third round.
Enjoy a few pictures from Kyrgios’ practice session with Jack Sock on Saturday.
Lleyton Hewitt was watching his fellow compatriot at work:
Click to enlarge pictures:
Semifinalist in 2015, finalist last year, Pablo Carreno Busta stormed into the final with a 6-3 6-3 win over former Roland Garros finalist David Ferrer.
He will next play Gilles Muller, who defeated Kevin Anderson 7-5 6-4 to reach his first ATP clay-court final.
Estoril Open semifinal: Muller defeats Anderson 7-5 6-4
Andy Murray, who has won the title at The Queen’s Club in 2009, 2011, 2013 and now 2015, defeated South African Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and four minutes. He joins John McEnroe, Lleyton Hewitt, Boris Becker and Andy Roddick in the elite group of four time Queen’s champion.
The last player to win both Queen’s and Wimbledon the same year was … Andy Murray two years ago. Will he do it again this year?
A really good week nonetheless for Kevin Anderson who beat Hewitt, recent Roland Garros champion Wawrinka, Garcia Lopez and Simon to reach the final:
Stan Wawrinka won his first match in four tournaments when he beat Dominic Thiem on Wednesday, only to lose to Kevin Anderson the next day. He served for the match and even had a few match points but Anderson prevailed 6-7 7-5 7-6. It was the Australian Open champion third loss to the South African this year.
I arrived just in time to see the last 5 games of the match so here are a few pictures:
