Taylor Fritz was 0-3 lifespan against Carlos Alcaraz on the way to their singles rubber at the Laver Cup on Saturday evening.
The fifth ranking American knew that he had to be brave if he wanted to turn the tide, especially playing on an extremely slowly covered hard court. These conditions generally prefer Alcaraz, so Fritz understood that the implementation of super aggressive tactics was his only option. It was a strategy that the 27-year-old devised with Captain Andre Agassi.
“We spoke all day,” Fritz said about his captain. “It was an honor to play under Andre. We are both like to share our thoughts about the game. I knew what to do here tonight; the question was whether I could do it.”
To say he did that, would be a gross understatement. Fritz fought two breaking points in the opening match of the match and then dominated almost the rest of the road on the way to a 6-3, 6-2 upset. He was not confronted with another breaking point.
“The three times I had played Carlos, he broke me every time in the first game,” Fritz thought. “It was huge to come from that first game.”
Team World even came from every game that was undamaged on Saturday. The home team also achieved singles victories from Alex de Minaur (deceased Alexander Zverev) and Francisco Cerundolo (d. Holger Rune). The Minaur went a clean sweep in Doubles and worked with Alex Michelsen to beat Rune and Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-4.
Team World will only need two wins on Sunday to achieve the cup and only one to force tie-breaking rubber. Team Europe needs three victories to bind and all four to win a victory victory.
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