Vancouver [Canada], September 23 : Team World finished Day 1 of the Laver Cup with a lead heading into this year’s edition of the team event.
Team World had never finished Day 1 of the Laver Cup with a lead.
John McEnroe’s men set that record directly in style in Vancouver as they stamped a 4-0 lead outperforming Team Europe with a dominant evening session performance on Friday.
In the third and final singles match of the day at Rogers Arena, Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-3 after Ben Shelton and Francisco Cerundolo had earlier given Team World a 2-0 lead. In the opening doubles match of the three-day competition, Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe defeated Arthur Fils and Andrey Rublev by scores of 6-3, 4-6, 10-6.
In a five-game stretch starting at 4-4 in the first set, Auger-Aliassime, who has battled to find his best form for much of 2023, broke Monfils' serve twice to seize control of the match. The 23-year-old remained steadfast after serving, ultimately winning 85 per cent of the points after his initial serve in order to give his team a 3-0 lead.
“It felt nice. Last year, it was an amazing win in London, but if we can win on home soil for the first time, that would also be cool. It was our first win last year for Team World," Canadian favourite Auger-Aliassime was quoted as saying by ATP
“To do it with the crowd, with us and supporting us, and for me especially as a Canadian, it feels good. Feels good to get a first win under my belt here in the competition, and overall in my season I think it's nice to get some wins," Felix added.
Team World continued its undefeated start in the sixth edition of the yearly team competition thanks to victories by Tommy Paul, who made his Laver Cup debut, and his fellow countryman Frances Tiafoe. Team Europe will have a lot of work to do on Day 2 in British Columbia after the duo came back from being down 0/3 in the Match Tie-break to defeat Fils and Rublev.
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