Favourites Europe take 3-1 lead

Prague, September 23

Team Europe swept the singles matches at the inaugural Laver Cup on Friday before Australian Nick Kyrgios and American Jack Sock took down top-ranked Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych in the doubles to salvage a point for Team World. The Europeans, the clear favourites with five of the world’s top seven players, jumped ahead 3-1 on the opening day of the three-day competition that is aimed at injecting a new jolt of excitement into tennis but joins a crowded calendar.

Playing on a sleek black hardcourt at Prague’s O2 Arena, Croatia’s Marin Cilic, Austria’s Dominic Thiem and Germany’s Alexander Zverev got the European team off to an excellent start, winning all three of their matches. That set Nadal and Czech Berdych up for a clean sweep with the crowd behind them, but the pair started slowly and were eventually beaten 6-3 6-7(7) 1-0(10-7) with the encounter decided in a 10-point match tie break.

“The first set they were better than us, but later it was close. We started to return more and be more aggressive,” Nadal said. “I am just happy the way the day went... Happy to go to bed 3-1.” — Reuters