After losing both matches during Friday’s afternoon session of the 2025 Laver Cup, Team World was looking to even things up during the nightcap at Chase Center in San Francisco.
To do so, however, Team World would have to get by the best men’s tennis player on the planet — world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz — who is leading Team Europe in this eighth edition of this three-day tournament named in honor of Australian tennis legend Rod Laver.
And Team World (aka, everyplace else not called Europe) would fall short in that endeavor, as the doubles team of Alcaraz (Spain) and world No. 17 Jakub Mensik (Czech Republic) vanquished the two Americans — No. 4 Taylor Fritz and No. 32 Alex Michelsen.
But it certainly wasn’t easy, as Fritz and Michelsen put up a valiant fight — especially during a marathon first set that lasted over an hour and had to be decided in a tie-breaker. The two doubles teams traded service breaks, left and right, during the first half of the breaker, before Alcaraz and Mensik finally put the breaker to bed 9-7.
The Team Europe duo then went on to finish out the second set 6-4.
Mensik and Michelsen had also played a singles match during the day session, with the Czech triumphing over the American. They split the first two sets then Mensik prevailed during the “Laver Breaker.”
The Alcaraz/Mensik vs. Fritz/Michelsen doubles match followed a very enjoyable singles contest between world No. 25 Flavio Cobolli (Italy) and No. 42 João Fonseca (Brazil) on Friday night.
The match, which clocked in at just under 90 minutes, was pretty dead even — in pretty much every regard — through four games. The Italian was the first to shake up the scoreboard, breaking in the fifth and then holding serve for a 4-2 lead.
That was the start of the rollercoaster ride, which went into full loop-di-loop mode as Fonseca ended up holding serve and then breaking Cobolli twice to take the set in thrilling fashion 6-4.
Combining spot-on serves with a sledgehammer forehand, Fonesca broke Cobolli in the fourth game. Then the Italian broke right back in the fifth, when what should have a been an easy forehand winner from Fonseca sailed wide right.
At that point, Fonseca really seemed to buckle down — and amp up the power — and managed to win the second set in convincing fashion 6-3.
That put Team World on the scoreboard for the first time at the 2025 Laver Cup.
At the end of the Day 1, the tally stands at Team Europe 3, Team World 1.
In order to win the Laver Cup, a team must collect 13 points. The tournament continues through Sunday. For more information, visit lavercup.com.