Team Europe completely ripped open the 2024 Laver Cup in the first match of the final day. Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud beat the Team World duo Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 7-6(6) and reduced the gap between the two teams to just one point with three matches still to play.

Since all four games on the final day are worth three points each, Team World’s lead of 8:4 in the morning is now only 8:7. This means that both teams have to win two of the remaining three individual competitions in Berlin.

The doubles match – played first on Sunday after being the final match on Friday and Saturday – was decided in the first three games. A nervous start for Alcaraz and Ruud saw them suffer a break point in the second game, which they saved thanks to a lucky, misplaced forehand volley from the Spaniard.

In the next game, the Europeans were lucky: Ruud’s forehand glided over the net and flew over Tiafoe’s racket, resulting in three break points. Alcaraz converted the third of these with a wonderfully delicate backhand drop volley.

This gave the blue pair confidence, while it caused uncertainty among the reds. When the two Americans failed to convert a breakback point in the fourth game, they seemed a little unsettled. Shelton in particular missed volleys that he had made with ease in his clear double victory alongside Alejandro Tabilo on Saturday evening.

Not only did Europe’s captain Björn Borg show great faith in Ruud after the nightmare the Norwegian endured during much of Saturday’s doubles matches, but it was clear that a lot of thought had been given to the Alcaraz-Ruud pairing. Most notably, they switched sides for returns, with Ruud moving to the deuce court and Alcaraz to the ‘ad’ side. This meant that most of the important points went to Alcaraz’s more spirited returns, while Ruud played a more solid role on the right.

With the first set already in the bag after 37 minutes, Europe could have made the decisive move in the third game of the second set when two break points were wasted. The Americans then rallied and played a solid set without ever having any break points. The sixth game included one of the most spectacular shots you can see in a tennis match: Alcaraz stretched for a backhand volley that he hit across the court, sending Tiafoe on the wrong side of the net and the crowd going wild. “I felt so good, I’m not going to lie,” Alcaraz said. “Juan Carlos (Ferrero, his coach) tells me not to do that in practice because he says I shouldn’t play that shot in matches, but I hope he watched so he can see that I can use it in matches.”

The Spanish-Norwegian pair had another chance after a dramatic point win at 5-5. This ended with Shelton fortunately falling over the advertising boards unharmed, but Tiafoe saved the break point with a volley.

When Team World won three points in a row in the tiebreak to turn a 2-4 deficit into a 5-4 lead, it seemed as though the Americans were peaking at just the right time, but the Europeans held firm and had a match point on Shelton’s serve at 6-5. Shelton fended it off with a volley that stumbled Alcaraz, but two points later the men in blue forced the visitors into another shot, and a backhand shot too long from Shelton sealed victory for the home team after 100 thrilling minutes of play.

“It was a little bit humiliating last night,” Ruud told the crowd. “I felt like I had never played doubles before, I was embarrassed, but I went to bed knowing that Carlos had said he would like to play doubles with me. I don’t know why, but I’m glad he did. He’s such a great guy and he got the best out of me today.”

The remaining singles matches feature Daniil Medvedev vs. Shelton, Alexander Zverev vs. Tiafoe and Alcaraz, who will face Taylor Fritz in a potentially decisive final.