Europe in trouble: Shelton and Tabilo power past Tsitsipas/Ruud to extend Team World’s lead

Ben Shelton and Alejandro Tabilo extend Team World’s lead after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud in the Laver Cup doubles match, winning 6-1, 6-2. The European duo is left in a difficult position heading into the 3rd day, with World leading 8-4.

As soon as the match started, Shelton and Tabilo won their service games with ease, but Ruud was the first to lose his serve, giving Team World a 3-0 lead. Tsitsipas also struggled to hold his serve against Team World's strong baseline exchanges.

Ruud managed to hold his serve once, but it was merely a formality in the 6-1 result in favor of Shelton/Tabilo. The Team World pair was relentless, achieving an 89% first serve success rate and winning 88% of those points, far surpassing the Europeans' 54% first serve rate, of which they won only 57%.

In the second set, Tsitsipas began serving, but the Europeans lost their serve for the third time. On the other side, the left-handers showed great team chemistry and consistently dominated their service games.

Team Europe applied some pressure when Tsitsipas and Ruud managed to hold serve despite difficulties. With Tabilo serving, the Europeans earned a couple of break points for the first time, taking advantage of Tabilo’s issues with his first serve and a few Shelton errors at the net in the match’s longest game, lasting over 10 minutes.

However, Team Europe failed to capitalize on the momentum, and Ruud once again lost his serve. Despite matching the pace of the game at moments during the set, it wasn’t enough for a comeback. Ultimately, Shelton/Tabilo sealed the win 6-1, 6-2 after an hour and 8 minutes of play.

At the end of day two, Team World leads 8-4 thanks to a strong day with three wins out of four matches. The final day of competition will be on Sunday, where each match will count for 3 points. Team World needs just two victories out of the four matches to claim the title for the third consecutive year.