By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday September 20, 2019
Dominic Thiem won a wild ride with Denis Shapovalov and Jack Sock shocked Fabio Fognini on Day 1 of Laver Cup.
Photo Source: Christopher Levy
Team World might have earned a sweep of Friday’s first Laver Cup session but Dominic Thiem came to the rescue and saved three match points to defeat Denis Shapovalov in a thriller, 6-4 5-7 13-11.
Shapovalov, who held two match points at 9-7 of the match tiebreak, and another at 10-9, couldn’t stop Thiem from earning the hard-fought win.
“I knew before it’s going to be a great competition,” said Team Europe captain Bjorn Borg. “I can’t imagine this is only the first match—we started like this, with many more to come. Dominic played well and did a great effort to win this match.”
"I'm always way less tight when I face match point than when I have one," Thiem later said of his tightrope walk on Day 1 of Laver Cup. "So if you're match point down, well, for me, I don't think too much. I just try to save it. That's what worked out today."
In the second match Team World responded to earn a much-needed morale boost—and victory—to level up at one point apiece with vaunted Team Europe.
Former World No.8 Jack Sock eased past Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-1 7-6(3) to send the two teams into intermission at a standstill.
Sock was out of the blocks quickly and rambled through the opening set, but Fognini, urged on by Team Europe luminaries Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, rallied and made a go at the American in the second set.
Sock, who has now racked up a total of 11 Laver Cup points (the other 10 in doubles), held firm and finished off Fognini in a second-set breaker.
Sock says the atmosphere in Geneva, and the team environment, has helped him bring out his best.
“I’m sure everybody here is surprised I won a singles match. I had thumb surgery in February and was out for almost six months,” he said, according to LaverCup.com. “For some reason Laver Cup seems to bring the best tennis out of everyone here.”
The Evening session in Geneva will feature Taylor Fritz v Stefanos Tsitsipas in singles, followed by Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev v Sock and Shapovalov in doubles.