A showdown between close friends Matteo Berrettini of Team Europe and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Team World highlights the first day of Laver Cup action on Friday in Boston.
With Team Europe winning the event’s first three editions, Team World will be keen to get off to a strong start at TD Garden. Berrettini leads the pair’s ATP Head2Head series 2-1, but Auger-Aliassime won most recently in Cincinnati.
The friends have played high-pressure matches before, with Berrettini defeating Auger-Aliassime in the Stuttgart final in 2019 and the Wimbledon quarter-finals earlier this year.
Team Europe & Team World Ready For Laver Cup In Boston
Leading off the event will be Team World’s Reilly Opelka and Team Europe’s Casper Ruud. Both men, like Auger-Aliassime and Berrettini, are making their Laver Cup debuts.
Ruud has won both of their previous clashes, including a victory in a final-set tie-break last month in Cincinnati, which marked his 100th tour-level victory. Both of their matches have gone three sets.
“It was a fun way to get your 100th win. A 7-6 in the third win is always probably one of the greatest feelings in the game, especially against a player like Opelka, where every point matters,” Ruud told ATPTour.com during Cincinnati. “The match could be turned around in one or two points and decided in one or two points.”
Diego Schwartzman of Team World played the Laver Cup in 2018, and he will try to rely on his experience against first-time competitor Andrey Rublev of Team Europe.
Schwartzman won their only previous clash 9-7 in a fifth set in the first round at Roland Garros in 2017. At the time, neither player was inside the Top 40 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. They both have since cracked the Top 10, with Rublev currently at a career-high World No. 5 and Schwartzman is World No. 15.
The first doubles match of the event will pit Team Europe’s Alexander Zverev and Berrettini against Team World’s John Isner and Denis Shapovalov.
Friday Order Of Play – starts 12:45 pm
Casper Ruud (Team Europe) vs Reilly Opelka (Team World)
Matteo Berrettini (Team Europe) vs Felix Auger-Aliassime (Team World)
Not Before 7:00 pm
Andrey Rublev (Team Europe) vs Diego Schwartzman (Team World)
Matteo Berrettini/Alexander Zverev (Team Europe) vs John Isner/Denis Shapovalov (Team World)