TEAM World might have put up a fight, but the visiting Team Europe cleaned up on day one of the Laver Cup, winning all three singles despite resistance in the second and third ties. With match results only worth one point on day one (two points on day two and three points on day three), Europe utilised its three lowest ranked players in Casper Ruud, Matteo Berrettini and Andrey Rublev, with all three coming away with the win.

Ruud was the most convincing of the lot, winning in a tight straight sets result over Reilly Opelka at Opelka’s home nation in Boston, winning 6-3 7-6. Producing nine aces and only one double fault with a strong 66 per cent serving efficiency, Opelka won a lower 73 and 50 per cent of his points from his first and second serve respectively, and also did not create a break. By contrast, Ruud continued his great recent form with the world number 10 in career-best form, winning 84 and 70 per cent of his respective service points, and breaking twice during the match.

“I was quite nervous in the beginning. It’s a big stadium, a big crowd,” Ruud said. “You know, you get chills when you walk on court. “You have the intro, the music, seeing all the legends, but luckily I handled it well. “I got an early break, which calms the nerves down a little bit.”

In the match most might have predicted go the way of Team World if any day one matches did, Felix Auger-Aliassime fell heartbreakingly short against fellow US Open semi-finalist, Berrettini. The pair went down to the top two players in the world at Flushing Meadows, and continued their form with an absolute nail-biter going down to the super tiebreak. In the end, Berrettini served it out well, only producing two double faults to seven, and serving at a 68 to 63 per cent clip. Despite not serving an ace in the super tiebreak, he won an extra receiving point (4-3) compared to the Canadian which was the difference in the 10-8 decider.

“I was just fighting. The match was really hard,” Berrettini said. “Felix was playing really good, not giving me anything, no mistakes, serving really well. “I felt a different energy. “I’m playing for my team, not just for my myself. “It felt great.”

Rublev also had to overcome an almighty fight from Argentinian Diego Schwartzman to win 11-9 in the third set super tiebreak and maintain Team Europe’s unbeaten record to start the Laver Cup. The Russian came back from a set down to take the match, to win 4-6 6-3 11-9 off the back of a consistent 69 per cent first serving efficiency. Schwartzman was his consistent self in the contest, with both players breaking four times. Rublev only won an additional three points over Schwartzman (71-68) in the nail-biting win.

“When you have a third-set super tiebreak, you never know what’s going to happen,” Rublev said. “Today, we were a bit luckier. It was so close. Diego was leading the tiebreak, but I found a way to win. It happens. This is tennis. This is sport. Someone has to win, someone has to lose.”

Finally getting on the board, Team World grabbed a match rubber in the doubles with a come-from-behind effort to dominate the last two tiebreaks. After Team Europe’s chosen doubles pairing of Alexander Zverev and Berrettini won the first set against World’s John Isner and Denis Shapovalov, it looked like it was going to be a clean sweep. Instead, the North American pairing won the second set tiebreak 7-2, then domianted the super tiebreak 10-1, to win 4-6 7-6 10-1 and build momentum into the second day tomorrow.

Both big serving combinations, only a total of 11 aces were produced (7-4 in favour of World), with both dominating their service games courtesy of a 72 and 64 per cent (to 66 and 62 per cent) winning first and second serve record. Having won the same amount of points heading into the super tiebreak (63-apiece), Team World finished stronger and ended the day with a point for the underdogs.

Team Europe chose to keep its big guns rested in top two pairing, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, whilst Nick Kyrgios was the sole player rested on day one from Team World. With Kyrgios and Shapovalov most likely to cause upsets to the top two players, expect them to be utilised in the singles.

LAVER CUP DAY 1 RESULTS:

Casper Ruud (EUR) defeated Reilly Opelka (WOR) 6-3 7-6
Matteo Berrettini (EUR) defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime (WOR) 6-7 7-5 10-8
Andrey Rublev (EUR) defeated Diego Schwartzman (WOR) 4-6 6-3 11-9
J. Isner/D. Shapovalov (WOR) defeated A. Zverev/M. Berrettini (EUR) 4-6 7-6 10-1

Picture credit: Laver Cup