Zverev beats Tien to seal Team Europe’s sixth Laver Cup title

Alexander Zverev delivered the deciding victory as Team Europe reclaimed the Laver Cup with a 13-5 win over Team World at London’s O2 Arena on Sunday. The German beat Learner Tien 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 to complete Europe’s sixth title, according to BBC Sport and the tournament’s official match report. His straight-sets success meant Carlos Alcaraz was not needed for another singles match.

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Europe began the final day leading 7-5 and needed two victories to reach the winning total of 13 points. Flavio Cobolli and Jakub Mensik supplied the first, defeating Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-3 in doubles. The official results recorded three points for that win and another three for Zverev’s singles success, ending Team World’s defence of the trophy they won last year.

Tien made Zverev work for the opening set. Serving at 5-5, the American recovered from 0-40 to hold after saving three break points, eventually taking the set into a tiebreak. Zverev then gained the advantage, winning it 7-3. Tien was making his Team World debut and had already contributed a singles victory over Cobolli on the second day.

The decisive service break came in the second set with Tien serving at 2-3. According to the tournament’s account, Zverev forced a backhand error on his sixth break-point opportunity of the match. He then faced three break points himself while leading 4-2 but held on, before serving out the contest two games later to finish in one hour and 49 minutes.

For Zverev, the result followed a second-day singles defeat by De Minaur. He credited the team’s chemistry afterwards and acknowledged the challenge posed by the defending champions. He also said knowing Alcaraz was due to play after him had given him confidence, with Europe having further singles opportunities available if he could not complete the job.

The victory gave Yannick Noah his first Laver Cup title as Europe’s captain, following defeat in San Francisco in his first year in charge. Zverev has now been involved in all six European title wins and holds the event record of eight singles victories. The tournament said this was his fourth title-clinching win, following those in Chicago, Geneva and Boston.