After a fantastic second day, Team World sent Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton to secure a crucial win at the 2024 Laver Cup. However, Casper Ruud and Carlos Alcaraz managed to defeat them.
Ruud and Alcaraz had both lost their doubles matches earlier in the event. Meanwhile, Shelton had won two doubles matches and had previous experience playing with Tiafoe.
This made the matchup challenging for Team Europe, especially since they needed to win. The overall score after the second day was 8-4 for Team World, so if they won this doubles match, they’d be up 11-4. They would then need only one of the three singles matches that followed.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇪🇸 Carlos Alcaraz | 21 | 68,791 | 25 - 5 |
Match Highlights:
The importance of this doubles match was clear as it kicked off the third day’s action. Both teams were laser-focused on winning. Despite some exciting rallies early on, with Americans being favorites, Europeans broke first and led 2-1.
Luck seemed to favor Europe as some rallies ended in their favor. The Americans found break points but couldn’t convert them; meanwhile, Europe extended their lead to 4-1 in the opening set.
Fans might think Team World’s lack of sharpness cost them dearly here.
The double break was too much for Team World to handle, allowing Europe to clinch the first set 6-2 with superior serving. After a shaky start by Alcaraz and Ruud, they found solid chemistry and dominated most of the set.
In the second set, Europe created more break chances but couldn’t capitalize initially as Team World held serve. Yet again, breaking seemed impossible for Americans as they struggled to apply pressure on returns while nearing a tie-breaker.
At 5-5 in the second set, Europe’s players created more break chances but failed to convert them again; however, they secured at least a tie-breaker by holding on barely.
A crucial miss by Shelton gave Europeans an early mini-break in tie-breaker leading them 4-2 after six points despite special sequences where Americans broke back eventually losing tie-breaker at 8-6 resulting in match victory for Europe reducing deficit at Laver Cup Berlin from 7-8.
What do you think about this thrilling match?
