Grigor Dimitrov will not play for Team Europe on the last day of the Laver Cup team tournament. Bulgaria's best tennis player brought a point to the Europeans after victory over Alejandro Tabilo of Chile on the first day of the competition, but captain Bjorn Borg did not bet on him on Saturday and will not count on the Bulgarian again today.
Otherwise, Europe has a big mountain to climb after suffering a crash on the second day of the tournament, which takes place in the German capital of Berlin. The opening day ended with a 2-2 points tie, but yesterday Team World pulled away seriously and now has an 8-4 lead. It all started with Frances Tiafoe's win over Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 6-4, 10-5. The Europeans leveled through Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, who triumphed in singles against Ben Shelton 6-4, 6-4.
However, the last two matches went to the expense of Team World. First, US Open finalist Taylor Fritz scored a third consecutive victory over Alexander Zverev, winning 6-4, 7-5. Shelton and Tabilo subsequently prevailed over Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas in doubles 6-1, 6-2. The winner is the team that reaches 13 points first.
Today's program starts with a new doubles match - Alcaraz/Ruud and Shelton/Tiafoe. Then there are the singles matches pitting Medvedev vs. Shelton, Zverev vs. Tiafoe and Alcaraz vs. Fritz, the latter of which may not matter if Team World have done their job by then.
Team World is fighting for a third consecutive triumph in the competition, after the first four editions were won by Team Europe. | BGNES
