Fritz fast-tracks Team World to a 6-4 advantage

Taylor Fritz banked two vital points for Team World on Saturday night at Laver Cup Berlin 2024, upsetting world No. 2 Alexander Zverev 6-4 7-5 to give the men in red a 6-4 lead over Team Europe.

The top-ranked American drowned out a vocal German crowd to topple the local favorite in an electric hour and 57 minutes at Uber Arena, marking his third consecutive victory over his higher-ranked foe.

“I’ve been fortunate to play some really good matches these last couple of times,” said Fritz, who fired eight aces to Zverev’s three and struck 27 winners, more than double his rival’s 11. The American credited his improved movement as key to his commanding performance.

“It’s something that I’ve been working on for a really long time,” said Fritz. “I’m also trying to come forward, add a little bit of variety to my game and it’s helping a lot especially on these types of surfaces and conditions where it’s slow and it’s heavy and you can’t just blast the ball through everybody.”

The Team World star said his team and captain helped spur him to clinch the win. “How can you not look at Johnny Mac at the bench and not get fired up to play?” he grinned.

In an edgy start that featured double faults from both, Fritz saved a break point in his opening service game only for the feat to be matched by Zverev, who fended off a pair of his own.

The 26-year-old American, contesting his fourth Laver Cup, held to love in two of his next three service games and conferred with teammates including Frances Tiafoe, Ben Shelton and Francisco Cerundolo on the change-of-ends, while Zverev absorbed wisdom from Grigor Dimitrov.

As the Team Europe star served at 4-5, he was broken to love after unloading loose groundstrokes, punctuated by a forehand into the net which handed Fritz the first set, and brought Team World’s bench to their feet.

Digging deep, Zverev earned two break points in the third game of the second. Though he was initially foiled by a well-executed drop shot from Fritz, moments later, the German blasted a sizzling backhand to convert for a 2-1 lead, eliciting roars from the stands which included his countryman and basketball legend Dirk Nowitzki,.

Fritz had two chances to immediately recapture the break and appeared poised to do so after gaining the upper-hand in a lengthy rally that left Zverev visibly winded, only to fire a backhand just past the baseline.

The duo traded heavy blows off both wings before Zverev created two break chances against the US Open finalist in the seventh game, dropped to one knee in disbelief when his backhand found the net on the second.

Unwavering in belief, Fritz continued to assert himself against his 27-year-old rival and silenced the packed arena by breaking Zverev to level the set at 4-4 when the German overhit what should have been a clinical overhead.

At 5-5, four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz was on the edge of Team Europe’s bench and shouted encouragement to his teammate, who responded with a stunning drop shot that led to a standing ovation. But Fritz withstood the barrage of support for his opponent and cooly held to force Zverev to serve to stay in the match.

Perhaps feeling the weight of the continent, Zverev didn’t have the answers as Fritz struck a crisp forehand down the line to set up match point and converted it with a textbook inside-out forehand to clinch the last singles points available on Day 2.

“I thought this was the best match I have ever seen him play,” Zverev said of Fritz, conscious of how well his opponent returned, in part because he made 75% of first serves and won only 60% of those points. “That doesn’t happen very often for me, so that’s full credit to him. “Felt like it was impossible to hit a winner, he was everywhere,” said the world No. 2. “Today, definitely it felt like I was playing…Novak Djokovic from a few years ago,” he smiled.

With the victory, the world No.7 extended his head-to-head advantage over Zverev to 6-5 and prescribed the German with his only his second ever Laver Cup singles loss in eight matches.

Fritz’s triumph earned Team World a second top 5 win in a single day of Laver Cup competition for the first time, following Frances Tiafoe’s upset of Daniil Medvedev in Saturday’s first match.

The American tipped Shelton and Alejandro Tabilo, a first-time pairing, to capture another two points in their upcoming doubles match against Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas. “I really trust the guys,” Fritz said.