Stefanos Tsitsipas Triumph Over Thanasi Kokkinakis at Laver Cup 2024: A US Open Rematch
Stefanos Tsitsipas showed his power in a thrilling victory in the Laver Cup in Berlin, taking out Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-1, 6-4.
On the first day of the competition, this win put Team Europe and Team World back on equal footing.
On Friday, the first day of the Laver Cup in Berlin, Team Europe and Team World shared the first two games. Teammate Casper Ruud lost against Francisco Cerundolo, but Stefanos Tsitsipas salvaged the victory for the home team by defeating Thansai Kokkinakis 6-1, 6-4.
“Very satisfied with that type of game I brought today,” Tsitsipas remarked to Andrea Petkovic on the court following the match.
In his event debut at Uber Arena, the Australian met with no opposition, despite having defeated Tsitsipas in the US Open’s opening round last month. Tsitsipas took advantage of the more aggressive baseline position early on to win eight of the first nine games.
Tsitsipas was able to freely use his forehand weapon and shift pace with sliced backhands since Kokkinakis was seldom ever putting himself forward as a countermeasure. The Greek showed no less inspiration when serving, holding the entire time.
A beaming Tsitsipas said, “I think the team captain was the difference,” before giving Bjorn Borg an embrace.
Earlier, Cerundolo defeated Ruud 6-4, 6-4, using three of his four break opportunities. With a forehand drop shot on match point, the Argentine gave the rivalry a 4-3 lead, kissing the net.
“I was really at ease on the court. There’s something special inside of me that makes me perform really well when I play in the team competition,” Cerundolo said in a reflection with Todd Woodbridge.
The evening session begins with a match between Grigor Dimitrov and Alejandro Tabilo, followed by a doubles match between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton.
