Laver Cup: Dominic Thiem wins opening match for Team Europe
Dominic Thiem has led Team Europe in the lead. The 26-year-old beat Denis Shapovalov 6: 4, 5: 7 and [13:11] in the first match of the 2019 Laver Cup.
by Florian Goosmann from Geneva
last edit: Sep 20, 2019, 06:44 pm
Did the landscape gardener of the Palexpo Arena create the space for the Laver Cup especially for Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal? It would be possible. In any case, there is so much space behind the baseline for exercise that an adult miniature pinscher could spend a full life here.
Or just Thiem and Nadal on the return. In any case, the Lichtenwörther shouldn't complain about the size, he used the approximately ten meters of legroom to always offer opponent Denis Shapovalov a different position on the return - and also had enough space to always give the Canadian one ball more.
Shapovalov started fine with offensive volley deposits, but Thiem struck in the second service game and brought Team World team boss John McEnroe early on to announce to his protégé that he should try with a little more discipline when building up points. This worked to the extent that Shapovalov heals his serve until the end of the first sentence (sometimes with difficulty) - but Thiem also (and quite confidently).
Shapovalov misses opportunities - but equalizes
Thiem was on the trigger, he played controlled offensive; he managed a tight service game at the beginning of the second set, thanks in part to a Shapovalov ball that was too long after the latter had lured Thiem onto the net with a nice return stop.
The match to read in the live ticker
Nevertheless, the 20-year-old was now pushing while Thiem made mistakes - but Shapovalov failed to pull away to 4: 1 after a well-played 40:15 on his own serve. Thiem breached back with a fine praise and equalized. At 6: 5 for Shapovalov he chipped well, pulled a forehand along the line and was right in the challenge after a Thiem forehand - equalization.
Drama in the match tie-break!
The match tiebreak had to bring the decision. Shapovalov took a 3-1 lead here, but then got impatient again early. For his part, Thiem did not finish 7: 5, but fought off two match balls at 7: 9. Thiem courageously played out her own match ball for the 10: 9 and celebrated it with an air jump, but a slice then got stuck in the net. Thiem fended off another point to win with a forehand on the line, in the end a forehand from Shapovalov landed on the net.
"I played the whole match strongly - then he breaks me with a great return game at the end. And then the match starts again," said Thiem afterwards.
Afterwards Fabio Fognini will play against Jack Sock, in the evening (from 7 p.m.) it's Stefanos Tsitsipas and Taylor Fritz's turn. The opening day ends with Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev in doubles against Sock and Shapovalov.