Djokovic teams up with Berrettini to increase Europe's lead over World at Laver Cup
ATP
Novak Djokovic seems to be the most important piece in Bjorn Borg's puzzle at the 2022 Laver Cup, as he showed his dominance in back-to-back matches on Saturday.
On Friday, Team Europe and Team World showed that there was nothing between them this year. First, Team Europe secured the first two points before Team World leveled the score, winning the other two matches. On Saturday, Team Europe got to lead, mostly thanks to Djokovic.
First, the 21-time Grand Slam champion defeated Frances Tiafoe to bring Team Europe two points ahead of Team World again. Then, Djokovic teamed up with Matteo Berrettini for the last match of Saturday's action at the 2022 Laver Cup.
While it was mostly about Roger Federer's retirement on Friday, both teams showed their super competitiveness on Saturday once again.
Berrettini secured the first two points for his team before Cameron Norrie lost to Taylor Fritz. But then the 35-year-old Serbian beat Tiafoe before the only two winners of Team Europe on Saturday teamed up.
Jack Sock was certainly the most experienced doubles player on the court, and Alex de Minaur played more doubles matches this year than their opponents from Team Europe combined. Yet, that didn't mean anything.
Djokovic and Berrettini started with an early break in the first set, and when the scoreboard showed 5-2, they had their first set point. However, they couldn't use that, and after a series of lost points, the score was tied again.
But the 2021 Wimbledon finalists, who stood on the same side of the court this time, shifted gears once more to win the first set 7-5.
In the second set, Djokovic and Berrettini got an early break again, but this time they didn't lose it. Moreover, they added one more break to win the match 7-5, 6-2 and give Team Europe an 8-4 lead ahead of Day 3, where three points are awarded for each victory.
