Cerundolo upsets Ruud, Tsitsipas levels for Europe at Laver Cup

Francisco Cerundolo helped Team World take its first step towards a third consecutive Laver Cup title on Friday afternoon. Team Europe's Stefanos Tsitsipas then promptly issued a swift reminder of the challenge facing the Argentine and his teammates this weekend in Berlin.

The No. 31 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Cerundolo upset Casper Ruud in the opening match of the 2024 edition of the teams event. He triumphed 6-4, 6-4 after 97 minutes to take a 4-3 lead in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the World No. 9.

“I’m super happy. I had the responsibility to go there and play the first match. I knew it was going to be tough,” said Cerundolo in his post-match press conference. “Casper is a great player. We played many times, so I knew how he was going to play, and I think I did a really good job from the beginning to the end.

“I was really there, focused, and super happy to get my second win in Laver Cup and first this year.”

Cerundolo outhit Ruud by 16 winners to 11 to avenge his recent defeat to the Norwegian at the Paris Olympics. The Argentine adjusted more quickly to the indoor conditions at Uber Arena than Ruud, who struggled with the consistency of his groundstrokes, to give Team World and its captain John McEnroe the perfect start in Berlin.

“We have seen it a couple of times, where it can come down on the last day to a point or two, so every point is very important,” said Team World Vice-captain Patrick McEnroe. “Especially, I think, the first match, it's good to get some momentum.”

If Team Europe captain Bjorn Borg was after a fast response, he certainly got one from Tsitsipas. The Greek raced to a 6-1, 6-4 win against Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second match of the afternoon session.

Tsitsipas set the tone on the opening point of the match, when he pushed Kokkinakis wide with an arrowed backhand before moving in to put away an emphatic volley. The World No. 12 barely looked back from there, and completed his win having broken his Australian opponent’s serve three times in his 81-minute win.

Looking sharp ?@steftsitsipas gets the point for Team Europe with a 6-1 6-4 triumph over Kokkinakis.@LaverCup | #LaverCup pic.twitter.com/obPaeZAv72

With one point on offer for each win on Day 1, that left the score between Team Europe and Team World at 1-1 heading into Friday evening’s session, when Grigor Dimitrov will take on Alejandro Tabilo, before home favourite Alexander Zverev and Laver Cup debutant Carlos Alcaraz meet Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton in the opening doubles clash of the weekend.

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