Team World's members celebrate with the trophy | AP
London: Frances Tiafoe staved off four match points to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 1-6, 7-6 (11), 10-8 on Sunday and clinched victory in the Laver Cup for Team World over Roger Federer's Team Europe for the first time.
Tiafoe, a 24-year-old American, performed with the same crunch-time success and wide-smiling showmanship he displayed en route to his first Grand Slam semifinal at the U.S. Open this month.
The victory over 2021 French Open runner-up Tsitsipas allowed the group of 20-somethings on Team World to go up 13-8 in the three-day competition against Team Europe, which in addition to Federer — the 20-time major champion who just retired — featured Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
Djokovic had wins in singles and doubles Saturday to put Team Europe up 8-4. Sunday's matches were worth three points each, with the first squad to 13 earning the trophy named for Rod Laver, the only man to win the calendar-year Grand Slam twice.
Team World took the lead on the final day at the O2 Arena, thanks to a pair of victories by Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 22-year-old from Canada. He defeated 21-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic 6-3, 7-6 (3), after partnering with Jack Sock to edge Murray and Matteo Berrettini 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 in doubles.
Team Europe came into the week having won all four previous editions of the Laver Cup, which was founded by Federer's management company.
This one served as a celebration of the 41-year-old Swiss star's career. His final match before retirement came Friday night, when he and Nadal lost in doubles to Tiafoe and Sock.
On Sunday, Tiafoe was a single point from losing to Tsitsipas four times in their second-set tiebreaker. On the first, at 6-5, Tsitsipas netted a forehand to close a 22-stroke exchange. Tiafoe erased the second, at 9-8, with a volley winner. And Tsitsipas sailed backhands long on each of his last two chances to close it out, at 10-9 and 11-10.
Tiafoe went a record 8-0 in tiebreakers at Flushing Meadows this month and was just as resilient in the big moments this time. When Tsitsipas put a forehand into the net to end the match — and the competition — Tiafoe dropped his racket, then fell to his back on the court, where his teammates piled on top of him. AP
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