With the help of Roger Federer in doubles action, Team Europe took a 3-1 lead Friday over Team World after the first day of the Laver Cup in Geneva, Switzerland.
Federer, the Swiss star, teamed with Germany’s Alexander Zverev to beat Canada’s Denis Shapovalov and the United States’ Jack Sock 6-3, 7-5.
In singles play, Austria’s Dominic Thiem topped Shapovalov 6-4, 5-7, 13-11, and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated the United States’ Taylor Fritz 6-2, 1-6, 10-7 to score points for Team Europe. Sock beat Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-1, 7-6 (3) to get Team World on the scoreboard.
The event continues Saturday and Sunday, with three singles matches and one doubles match each day. The Saturday schedule features Zverev vs. the United States’ John Isner, Federer vs. Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, Spain’s Rafael Nadal vs. Canada’s Milos Raonic plus a doubles match of Nadal-Tsitsipas vs. Kyrgios-Sock.
Moselle Open
Three home-country favorites scored quarterfinal wins in Metz, France.
Third-seeded Benoit Paire notched a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Gregoire Barrere in an all-French matchup. Paire’s semifinal opponent will be Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene, who got past Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 7-5.
Unseeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and fourth-seeded Lucas Pouille will square off in an all-French semifinal. Tsonga advanced when second-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia retired because of a right shoulder injury while trailing 5-7, 6-3, 4-1. Pouille rallied past Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
St. Petersburg Open
Belarusian qualifier Egor Gerasimov advanced to his first career semifinal, knocking off third-seeded Matteo Berrettini of Italy 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Gerasimov, ranked 119th in the world, next will oppose top-seeded Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev cruised past fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-5 in a matchup of Russians.
The other semifinals will see fourth-seeded Borna Coric of Croatia oppose unseeded Joao Sousa of Portugal. Coric eliminated eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, and Sousa upset sixth-seeded Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 7-6 (8), 6-2.
–Field Level Media
