Alcaraz saves two match points against Fritz to level Laver Cup at 5-5

Carlos Alcaraz saved two match points to defeat Taylor Fritz and draw Team Europe level at 5-5 in the Laver Cup on Saturday. According to the tournament's official match report, the Spaniard won 6-3, 4-6, 13-11 at London's O2.

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Alcaraz broke Fritz in the opening game and took the first set, but the American responded by breaking at 1-1 in the second. Fritz then served out that set at 5-4 to send the contest into a deciding match tiebreak. Alcaraz moved into a 5-1 lead, only for Fritz to recover and create chances to finish the match.

Fritz's opportunities came at 10-9 and 11-10. Alcaraz survived both and eventually converted his third match point at 12-11, completing the victory in one hour and 50 minutes. The result reversed their meeting at last year's Laver Cup in San Francisco, where Fritz had beaten Alcaraz during Team World's title-winning campaign.

Earlier, Learner Tien had erased Europe's overnight 3-1 advantage by beating Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 2-6, 10-7. Alex de Minaur then put World 5-3 ahead with a 2-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9 victory over Alexander Zverev. Laver Cup's report described a change in the Australian's approach as he attacked the net more often and used angles to disrupt an opponent who had controlled the opening set.

De Minaur also had to recover in the deciding tiebreak. Zverev led 3-0 and later 6-4 before reaching match point at 9-8. De Minaur saved it and took his own opportunity at 10-9 to finish a two-hour contest, preserving his unbeaten singles record in the competition. His win and Tien's each added two points to World's total.

The scoring system increases the value of wins as the weekend progresses: one point on Friday, two on Saturday and three on Sunday. Under the tournament's published rules, the target for victory is 13 points. Alcaraz's result therefore restored parity after seven matches, rather than settling the second day's outcome, with Saturday's doubles still to be decided.