Europe Takes 7⁠–⁠5 Laver Cup Lead Into Sunday

Team Europe leads Team World 7⁠–⁠5 after Day 2 of the Laver Cup, the annual three-day men's team event that pits six European players against six from the rest of the world, on Saturday, 26 September, at The O2 in London (Laver Cup official scores; BBC Sport; AFP). Saturday's matches were worth two points each after Europe took a 3⁠–⁠1 lead on Day 1. Team World wiped out that lead in the day session: Learner Tien beat Flavio Cobolli 6⁠–⁠3, 2⁠–⁠6, 10⁠–⁠7, then Alex de Minaur came from a set down to beat Alexander Zverev 2⁠–⁠6, 7⁠–⁠6(5), 11⁠–⁠9, saving a match point at 8⁠–⁠9 before converting his own at 10⁠–⁠9 in the match tie-break (when sets are split, a first-to-10-point tie-break, won by two clear points, is played instead of a third set) (Laver Cup; BBC Sport). That put World ahead 5⁠–⁠3. Carlos Alcaraz leveled the score at 5⁠–⁠5, saving two match points in a 6⁠–⁠3, 4⁠–⁠6, 13⁠–⁠11 win over Taylor Fritz: an ace at 8⁠–⁠9 down in the match tie-break, then a drop shot to stave off a second, before taking it 13⁠–⁠11. It was his first singles match since his late-night US Open quarter-final loss to Ben Shelton (BBC Sport; Laver Cup). Zverev returned with Casper Ruud to beat Alexander Bublik and Brandon Nakashima 6⁠–⁠4, 7⁠–⁠6(9⁠–⁠7) and restore Europe's lead overnight (Laver Cup official scores). Sunday's matches are worth three points each, and the first team to 13 points wins the trophy (Laver Cup). Sunday's play was scheduled to start at noon BST in London (7 a.m. ET) with a doubles match, Cobolli and Jakub Mensik against de Minaur and Fritz, and had not begun at press time (Laver Cup).