Alex de Minaur stunned US Open champion Alexander Zverev, but Europe hold a 7-5 lead over Team World going into the final day of the Laver Cup tennis tournament at London’s O2 Arena.
The Australian downed the German in a match deciding tiebreak 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 11-9 to maintain his perfect singles record in the annual team event.
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It was the second straight year that de Minaur has defeated Zverev, who also triumphed at Roland Garros this year, and was his fourth singles victory in three Laver Cup appearances.
After leading the Australian charge in last week’s Davis Cup win against Poland in Brisbane, de Minaur put his body on the line for the Andre Agassi captained Team World – drawing blood from his knee after a diving volley during the match tiebreak.
“If you can notice, my blood is red as well,” de Minaur said with a laugh.
“It was a very tough match. A tough battle. I left it all out there and got fortunate in the end to get the job done and I’m happy to give some points for Team World.”
De Minaur’s task will get even tough on the final day as Team World look to come from behind to defend the title they won in San Francisco last year.
He will face Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday after the Spaniard saved two match points in his win against American Taylor Fritz.
The Australian is confident of pulling off an upset, however.
“We were in the same position last year and it worked out pretty well for us,” de Minaur said.
“We know we can do some damage. We know we’re the underdogs, but we also know that we can step out on this court and light it up.”
Team World had overturned a 3-1 overnight deficit in the first two matches of the day as all three singles matches went to a deciding tie-break.
Learner Tien beat Flavio Cobolli before Zverev lost out to Alex de Minaur.
Alcaraz was beaten by Fritz in last year’s Laver Cup, but the Australian Open champion exacted his revenge, although he was pushed all the way before edging a classic 6-3, 4-6, 13-11.
“Two great and tough losses today and obviously I was thinking a little bit about last year, (when) we lost every match on Saturday,” Alcaraz said.
“Coming into the match, I was trying not to let it happen again. So I was kind of nervous at the beginning, I’m not going to lie. But really happy that I took the win at the end.”
Zverev teamed up with Casper Ruud to give Europe the advantage heading into Sunday with a 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) doubles victory over Alexander Bublik and Brandon Nakashima in the final match of the day.
Each match on Sunday is worth three points with the first side to 13 the winners.