Stefanos Tsitsipas played one of his better matches in recent weeks to give Team Europe the first point in the 2024 Laver Cup.
This year's Laver Cup edition is one Team Europe is heavily favored to win considering how strong of a team they brought, but after the first two matches, it's only 1-1.
In the first match of the 2024 Laver Cup in Berlin, Francisco Cerundolo stunned Casper Ruud to give Team World the first point. That made the second match between Tsitsipas and Thanasi Kokkinakis quite important because Team Europe didn't want to fall behind 0-2 after the first two matches.
The two played recently, and the Australian won that match at the US Open, as Tsitsipas struggled a lot with his tennis. That made this meeting interesting, but the first set was very clear, as Tsitsipas could win it easily.
It lasted only about 30 minutes, and the score was 6-1. While Tsitsipas played exceptionally, the type of court they played on had a lot to do with it as well.
The courts in Berlin play slow and they are high-bouncing, which created lots of problems for Kokkinakis. He prefers to play on a quicker surface, which allows him to use his deadly combination of serve and forehand.
He couldn’t do that on this court because Tsitsipas is solid in the way he counters that in conditions like these. It's why he's always been good on clay. There are simply methods for him to frustrate the Australian, who couldn’t quite find his rhythm in the best possible way.
Still, Tsitsipas played a superb set, totaling 16 winners to only six for Kokkinakis, who didn't miss that often but was simply outplayed in the rallies by the Greek, who built points patiently and then pounced when he had the chance.
The second set opened with an early break for Tsitsipas, which was important for him and Team Europe. He didn't want to give Kokkinakis time to find a good rhythm and was somewhat helped in that by Kokkinakis.
Team World player didn't really play all too well, especially compared to how well he played in the past weeks. His level was below that, but at times, he hit some signature shots.
He had break points in the second game of the second set, but he wasn't able to use the couple of them he had. That was quite painful for Kokkinakis because it seemed like a good chance for him to break.
Tsitsipas held his serve, and that was the final chance that the Australian would have as the Greek player stabilized after that and was able to hold his serve without too many issues.
Kokkinakis served better in the second set and generally played better, but it came a bit too late. By the time he started playing good tennis, Tsitsipas already had a break in hand and was able to cruise to the finish line.
The final score was 6-1, 6-4 for the Team Europe player, which was a solid win for the Greek, who finished the match with four aces and 25 winners. He only had eight unforced errors, which was also crucial.