Laver Cup: Roger Federer wins - and keeps Team Europe in the race!
Roger Federer made the connection for Team Europe at the Laver Cup. With a 6: 4, 7: 6 (3) against John Isner, he reduced to 10:11 from the perspective of the European selection. Now the game between Alexander Zverev and Milos Raonic decides.
by Florian Goosmann from Geneva
last edit: Sep 22, 2019, 06:26 pm
"Roger, Roger, Roger," resounded through the Palexpo arena when the Swiss champions had just made the 3-2 break against Isner; the cheers of the 17,000 spectators were even more voluminous after winning the set.
Until then, Federer hadn't burned anything on his own serve and kept Isner busy on the backhand, the American only got four points when he served the 20-times major champ.
Set two was similar, but Federer was unable to use two break chances. Isner, on the other hand, grabbed a set ball at 6: 5 with a brute return (to date he had only won two points on Federer's service), but the maestro defended himself with a percentage premium on Isner's backhand and subsequent forehand.
In the tie-break, Federer won the decisive mini-break with a forehand ball, and served with an ace to win.
The match to read in the live ticker.
Now it's up to Zverev and Raonic
Federer's victory was crucial to keep Team Europe in the running for a third triumph at the Laver Cup. If he had lost, Team World would have won the duel for the first time.
Now everything depends on the match between Alexander Zverev and Milos Raonic: If Zverev wins, Team Europe is the winner of the Laver Cup for the fourth time. If Raonics won, Team World would celebrate a premiere.
What about the Laver Cup?
After the victories of Dominic Thiem (6: 4, 5: 7, [13:11] against Denis Shapovalov), Jack Sock over Fabio Fognini (6: 1, 7: 6 (3)) and Stefanos Tsitsipas over Taylor Fritz (6 : 2, 1: 6, [10: 7]) as well as Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev about Denis Shapovalov and Jack Sock (6: 4, 7: 5) Team Europe had come out 3: 1 from the opening day on Friday.
On Saturday, there were two points per match. Here John Isner won against Alexander Zverev (6: 7 (2), 6: 4, [10: 1]), Roger Federer against Nick Kyrgios (6: 7 (5), 7: 5, [10: 7]), Nadal against Milos Raonic (6: 3, 7: 6 (1)) and the double Kyrgios / Sock against Nadal and Tsitsipas (6: 4, 3: 6, [10: 6]). The score at the end: 7: 5 for Team Europe.
Sunday is now about three points per win. After the success of John Isner / Jack Sock , Team World had taken the lead for the first time, Taylor Fritz had increased with the victory over Dominic Thiem.