Daniil Medvedev and Frances Tiafoe start Saturday’s Laver Cup action at the Uber Arena with a lot more riding on the second day’s events.
Team Europe and Team World were tied 2-2 after the opening day’s four matches, underscoring the importance of victory with a win on the second day worth two points.
Match preview
© Imago
Observers were none the wiser as to which team would win the battle to reach 13 points first after the first day’s results at the 2024 Laver Cup, with Team Europe recovering from a setback in Casper Ruud‘s first-ever loss at the tournament to take a 2-1 lead only for a late loss by Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz to keep both teams evenly matched.
In the opening match of day two, Medvedev’s remit is to put Team Europe back in front against Big Foe, with the Russian favourite to get the better of his American opponent.
The world No. 3’s only ever previous Laver Cup match came on the second day of the 2021 event in Boston when he beat Denis Shapovalov in two sets to send the Euro team 9-1 up.
Although getting the better of Saturday’s opponent will not open up such a healthy lead this time, it creates separation for Bjorn Borg‘s team ahead of Saturday’s three other matches.
© Imago
Tiafoe was Team World’s chief motivator on the opening day, willing his teammates on as they went ahead after Francisco Cerundolo‘s win over Ruud, trailed 2-1 and tied the event by claiming the first doubles match of this year’s tournament.
Unlike Medvedev, the two-time US Open semi-finalist has had significant experience of this event, appearing at five tournaments since his debut as a 19-year-old in the 2017 event.
The 26-year-old has had a mixed win-loss record in singles, notching two wins and losing three in five matches, even if he has clinched five points altogether across such events.
While the three-time tour-level champion heads into this year’s event undefeated in doubles, he aims to record success over Medvedev for the first time to notch a third singles triumph and give Team World a 4-2 lead.
Head To Head
Indian Wells (2023) – Semi-final: Medvedev 7-5 7-6(4)
Miami Masters (2021) – Round of 16: Medvedev 6-4 6-3
US Open (2020) – Round of 16: Medvedev 6-4 6-1 6-0
Australian Open (2020) – First round: Medvedev 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-2
Washington (2019) – Round of 16: Medvedev 6-2 7-5
Medvedev has dominated Tiafoe on the ATP Tour, clinching five victories in their head-to-head and aims to record a sixth consecutive triumph over the American in their sixth match-up.
Interestingly, every battle has come on hard courts, with the world No. 16 claiming just one set against the 2020 US Open champion.
We say: Medvedev to win in two sets
Although a motivated Tiafoe packs a punch and should benefit from previous Laver Cup experience, Medvedev’s dominance in this rivalry should continue to put Team Europe 4-2 up before Alcaraz and Ben Shelton battle.
