Sascha raises Team Europe to within a point of victory

 

Team Europe are on the verge, and Alexander Zverev is on a roll. The youngest member of Bjorn Borg’s sextet was a class apart as he claimed his second win of the weekend against Sam Querrey, easing to a 6-4 6-4 victory that restored Team Europe’s six-point cushion with two matches remaining. With that, the men in blue lead 12-6 and need just one more win to seal this inaugural Laver Cup.

The weight of expectation on the 20-year-old’s shoulders was made that much heavier by Team World’s victory in Sunday’s opening doubles, handing Querrey the chance to level the scores at 9-9. But Zverev, who opened with a hard-fought win over Denis Shapovalov on Friday, never looked in trouble as the American struggled to apply the pressure.

Indeed, it was this year’s Wimbledon semifinalist who made a shaky start to his first meeting with the German, serving his way out of trouble after spraying some wild drives in the opening exchanges.

Across the net, Zverev was quickly in the zone, ripping a string of sumptuous backhands and punishing the Querrey second serve as the American struggled to hit through the court. The 20-year-old snatched the break for a 4-3 lead before serving out the opener to love inside half an hour, then broke to love to put Team Europe firmly in control, looking every part the world No.4.

McEnroe needed a response from Querrey, and he rallied to push Zverev to deuce before looking far more solid on serve. But the damage was done – a solitary break point was all the German needed to clinch a dominant win, sealed with a service winner after 62 minutes.

Full report to follow.