Taylor Fritz’s lopsided victory over world number one Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday in San Francisco was a message across the bow of Team Europe. On Sunday Fritz finished the job, sinking the five-time Laver Cup champions with a devastating performance 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Alexander Zverev.
It was a memorable tournament for the Southern California native, playing in his home state in a showcase event with the eyes of the sport upon him.
“Seeing these guys on the bench getting pumped up, seeing a legend of the sport like Andre jumping out of his seat and cheering for me, it’s impossible not to be so fired up and just giving everything you have every single point,” Fritz said.
On the flipside, it was a clunker for the German, who was hammered in both of his singles matches as team Europe lost the plot after winning three out of four matches on the opening day.
Team World notched a Saturday sweep and entered Sunday with a 9-3 lead, needing just two victories to clinch their third Laver Cup young victory.
Another Sterling performance by Aussie Alex De Minaur put Team world in pole position with an emphatic 6-3, 6-4 win over Jakub Mensik, but Carlos Alcaraz stopped the bleeding with a bounce back performance against Francisco Cerundolo which staved off elimination and gave Zverev a chance at redemption after he was blown away by De Minaur, 6-1, 6-4, on Saturday.
If Alcaraz was wearing the fatigue during Saturday’s 6-3, 6-2 lost Fritz, he clearly found his energy for Sunday as he won the doubles match alongside Norway’s Casper Ruud (a 7-6(4), 6-1 win against Reilly Opelka and Alex Michelsen), then throttled Cerundolo with a scintillating and vintage performance that brought the crowd to its feet on several occasions inside of the Chase center in San Francisco.
But even Alcaraz‘s exploits couldn’t outshine Fritz on this special weekend for the top ranked American.
The California native was quick to the trigger against the lethargic Zverev and raced through the opening set, 6–3. Zverev, who was run off the court by De Minaur during team World’s Saturday sweep, put up a good fight in the second set set and rallied back from 4-2 down to eventually level things up and force a second-set tiebreak.
With both benches on their feet exhorting their teammates the tension was thick and it felt for a moment like Fritz might be losing the script.
Even in the tiebreak, he had trouble keeping the momentum and squandered a 3-0 lead with Zverev leveling at three-all prior to the change of ends. But the world No.5, the only player on Team World who had previously played a Grand Slam singles final, was up to the task.
He pulled away to clinch the victory, winning four of the final five points to give Team World the 15–9 scoreline and set the benches free for a jubilant on-court celebration.
