After a superb second day, Team World sent out Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton to try and secure a much-needed win at the 2024 Laver Cup, but Casper Ruud and Carlos Alcaraz beat them.
Both Ruud and Alcaraz played a doubles match at the Laver Cup this year, and they both lost. Shelton played two doubles matches and he won both of them, and has experience playing with Tiafoe in the past.
That was going to make this matchup a tough one for the European team, especially since they had to win it. The overall score after the second day was 8-4 for Team World, so if they won the doubles, they would be up 11-4, needing only one of the three singles matches that would follow.
It's what made this doubles match a very important match, and it's also one of the reasons why it's played as the first match on the third day of action, and both teams took it extremely seriously.
There were some nice rallies at the start of the match, despite the Americans being the nominal favorites. Even so, the Europeans broke first, taking a 2-1 lead. The Team World players were a bit disjointed and lacked a bit of luck, as some rallies ended very luckily for the European side.
The Americans found break points in the next game but couldn't convert. The Europeans then had break points for 4-1 and converted, taking a 4-1 lead in the opening set of the match.
The Americans weren't sharp enough in the execution, whether from the baseline or at the net, while the European team looked very focused. As in most tennis matches, sometimes it just comes down to a bit of luck and execution, and the Europeans were better at it at the start.
The double break proved too much for the Americans to overcome, so the European team was able to hold on and win the opening set 6-2. They served much better, and that was more than enough to win the opening set.
Outside of the first couple of games, which were a bit shaky, the rest of the set was easy for Alcaraz and Ruud, who found some solid chemistry. The start of the second set showed a solid play from the European team once more.
They created more break chances, but somehow Team World was able to hold serve and keep themselves in the match. They still failed to create too much pressure on the return, which is what they would need to do if they hoped to win.
While the Americans found a good rhythm on the serve, they still failed to create too much pressure on return. Breaking seemed impossible for the Americans as the second set was inching closer to a tie-break.
Team Europe players were able to create more break chances at 5-5 but still couldn't convert. Team World barely hung on, but they secured at least a tie-break.
A big miss by Shelton immediately gave the Europeans the mini-break in the tie-break, and they could keep the lead, making it 4-2 after six points. A special sequence of points followed, with the Americans breaking back, but ultimately, Team Europe won the tie-break 8-6 and the match 6-2, 7-6(6) to decrease their deficit at the 2024 Laver Cup in Berlin to 7-8.