They defeated Team World’s Reilly Opelka and Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-7, 10-3 to give their team an incredible 14-1 victory.
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Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev produced an inspired performance, clinching a comprehensive Laver Cup win for Team Europe on Sunday. They defeated Team World’s Reilly Opelka and Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-7, 10-3 to give their team an incredible 14-1 victory. It is impressive to note that Team Europe has now won the first four editions of the three-day event. The only match they dropped this weekend came in Friday evening’s doubles match, when John Isner and Shapovalov were victorious.
“I was thinking I’m one of the worst ones in doubles, that I can only shoot forehands and that’s it. But it looks like I can play doubles really well,” Rublev said in the on-court interview. “It’s been amazing. It’s been a pleasure to be with these guys, with Bjorn and Thomas behind our back. It was a pleasure.”
Team Europe Captain Bjorn Borg was all praise for his side after securing the victory. “I’m a proud captain. I’m proud of my team, what you guys did. To spend a week with you together, it’s amazing,” Team Europe Captain Bjorn Borg said during the trophy ceremony. “It’s an honour and it’s a great feeling.”
When Team World arrived at the TD Garden in Boston for the third day of competition, they had a tough assignment on their hands, knowing that they had to win all four matches to take home the trophy. Opelka and Shapovalov did play well to win the second set and put pressure on their opponents, but were unable to finish the job in the end. In the Match Tie-break, Shapovalov made two unforced errors earlier on, and Rublev and Zverev took full advantage of it. Notably, Team Europe have won five of the six Match Tie-breaks in this year’s Laver Cup.
“A lot of matches could have gone both ways and we won most of those matches,” Zverev said in the on-court interview. “At the end of the day, the score says that it was 14-1, but it could have gone both ways a lot of the time.
“I think we’re all extremely happy. We [did] a lot of hard work for this victory throughout the whole week. The guys have been amazing. The group of this team has been absolutely amazing. I think a lot of us came a lot closer together and to be honest I can’t wait for London next year.”
Elsewhere, Hubert Hurkacz continued his impressive season on Sunday at the Moselle Open, defeating second seed Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6, 6-3 to win his third ATP Tour title of the year. He fought back from a break down in the first set, and took it a level higher in the second to secure the victory after 82 minutes.
“Pablo is an amazing player, so playing against him in the final here is something special,” Hurkacz said in his on-court interview. “I needed to raise my level to play my best to be able to compete with him and today I came out on top and I am super, super happy about this.”
“The atmosphere here is very special here with all of you guys,” Hurkacz added as he complimented the band in the arena. “You guys [the band] make it an amazing atmosphere, so that is so nice that you guys are here.”
