Americans Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe took down Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and Russia’s Andrey Rublev 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in doubles to secure the Laver Cup for Team World on Sunday in Vancouver.
Team World drubbed Team Europe 13-2 in the competition to claim the trophy for the second straight year.
Shelton and Tiafoe’s victory was the only match needed to decide the cup, as Team World entered the third and final day of the competition with a 10-2 lead and needed just one match win to clinch. All matches on Friday were worth one point, Saturday’s matches were worth two points apiece and Sunday’s were worth three.
Shelton and Tiafoe had seven aces, won 36 of 48 first-service points (75 percent) and saved both break points they faced. They rallied from a 4-3 deficit in both the first-set and second-set tiebreakers.
Shelton defeated Tiafoe in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. Team World also consisted of Americans Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime and Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.
Chengdu Open
Top seed Alexander Zverev of Germany advanced to the semifinals in China by rallying for a 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 victory Sunday over seventh seed Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia.
Zverev pulled off 13 aces to four for Kecmanovic and had 53 winners against 41 for his opponent to earn a matchup with Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
The third-seeded Dimitrov earned a convincing 6-4, 6-1 victory in the quarterfinals against Christopher O’Connell of Australia.
In the other semifinal, Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti will face Roman Safiullin of Russia. The second-seeded Musetti was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over France’s Arthur Rinderknech. Safiullin moved on when Australia’s Jordan Thompson retired before the second set after Safiullin won the opening set 7-6 (1).
Huafa Properties Zhuhai Championships
Elsewhere in China, Aslan Karatsev of Russia upset No. 2 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) to reach the semifinals in Zhuhai.
Karatsev had a 29-14 edge in winners and won 13 of 15 net points. He led the first-set tiebreaker 3-0 before Norrie tied it 5-5. He won the final two points to claim the set and rallied from down 2-0 in the second-set tiebreaker before winning on his second match point.
Karatsev’s next opponent will be No. 8 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, who was a 6-4, 7-5 winner over Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, the third seed.
Top seed Karen Khachanov of Russia dropped a set before defeating sixth-seeded American Mackenzie McDonald 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. McDonald’s countryman Sebastian Korda, the fourth seed, easily advanced past fifth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina 6-1, 6-2.
–Field Level Media
