Taylor Fritz stunned top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 6-2 as Team World swept Saturday’s four matches to take a 9-3 lead over Team Europe at the Laver Cup in San Francisco
Fritz, ranked No. 5, beat Spain’s Alcaraz for the first time in four ATP singles matches and defeated a reigning World No. 1 for another career first. Alcaraz had won 13 consecutive matches this year and was playing in his first singles match since capturing the U.S. Open for his sixth career Grand Slam singles crown.
The three-day hardcourt event features three singles matches and one doubles match per day, from Friday through Sunday. A match win Friday was worth one point. Wins are two points on Saturday and three points on Sunday. The first team to 13 points wins the event.
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Team Europe led 3-1 after Friday’s results, including Alcaraz and the Czech Republic’s Jakub Mensik downing Americans Fritz and Alex Michelsen in doubles.
On Saturday, Team World’s Alex de Minaur of Australia defeated Team Europe’s Alexander Zverev of Germany; Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo also won in straight sets over Denmark’s Holger Rune; and de Minaur and Michelsen teamed up and beat Rune and Norway’s Casper Ruud.
Lynx & Co Hangzhou Open
French qualifier Valentin Royer ousted No. 1 seed Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-6 (2) in Hangzhou, China.
It was the opener for Rublev, who had a first-round bye. For Royer, it was his first win over a Top 20 opponent, fueled by 32 winners to 19 for the Russian.
Royer advanced to the quarterfinals and will play Learner Tien, who defeated Italian Giulio Zeppieri 6-4, 6-3. Also moving into the quarters were third-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, who came from behind to beat Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4 in two hours, 13 minutes.
Corentin Moutet of France and Tomas Martin Etcheverry will face off in another quarterfinal. Fourth-seeded Moutet eliminated fellow Frenchman Arthur Cazaux 6-7 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (3). Etcheverry, of Argentina, sent Australian Rinky Hijikata packing 6-1, 6-4.
Yibing Wu defeated dropped the first set but came back to defeat Sebastian Korda 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Czech Dalibor Svrcina eliminated China’s Zhizhen Zhang 6-4, 6-3.
Chengdu Open
Taro Daniel of Japan and Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan advanced to the quarterfinals in upsets in Chengdu, China.
Daniel topped third seed Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to move on to his first quarterfinal since Auckland in January 2024. He will play Shevchenko, who took out sixth seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Top seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy needed three sets to knock out Serbia’s Dino Prizmic 7-5, 3-6, 6-2. Musetti had 10 aces and 11 unforced errors. Next up for Musetti is qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, who topped Mackenzie McDonald 6-2, 7-6 (4).
–Field Level Media
