Laver Cup
Fonseca wins Laver Cup debut, Alcaraz strikes again in doubles
Group Europe leads 3-1 after Day 1
September 20, 2025
Ezra Shaw/Getty Photos for Laver Cup
Group World’s Joao Fonseca defeats Flavio Cobolli in his Laver Cup debut.
By Arthur Kapetanakis
Joao Fonseca put Group World on the board on the 2025 Laver Cup with a trendy debut victory earlier than the doubles duo of Carlos Alcaraz and Jakub Mensik staked Group Europe a 3-1 lead after Friday’s play in San Francisco.
The youngest participant to compete at Laver Cup at age 19, Fonseca stormed again from 2-4 within the opening set towards Flavio Cobolli, rattling off 5 video games in a row and 7 out of eight to take management of the singles showdown. After the #NextGenATP Brazilian’s 6-4, 6-3 victory breathed life into Group World, Alcaraz and Mensik clawed again the momentum for the Europeans with a 7-6(7), 6-4 victory towards Taylor Fritz and Alex Michelsen. It was Alcaraz’s first aggressive motion since he gained the US Open title and reclaimed the No. 1 PIF ATP Rating.
Group World was staring down a possible 0-3 deficit earlier than Fonseca fired up his workforce and the San Francisco crowd with an electrical show of energy and shotmaking that left Cobolli with out solutions, even with Roger Federer cheering him on from the stands.
“I believe my workforce helped me quite a bit, to remain optimistic in the course of the match,” mentioned Fonseca, who was born 12 days earlier than new Group World captain Andre Agassi retired on the 2006 US Open. “I used to be slightly bit extra nervous than standard. It is regular. After which after I began speaking slightly bit extra with Andre and the workforce… I used to be enjoying good at first, however I used to be nonetheless slightly bit nervous and making a number of errors, however after I obtained by way of so I am very proud of that.”
The group sang Fonseca’s title all through the match, and his captain and teammates joined in on the enjoyable in celebration following the much-needed victory.
Alcaraz and Mensik reduce the house workforce’s social gathering brief with a scientific doubles show wherein they didn’t face a break level, based on Infosys ATP Stats. However the Spanish-Czech duo did have to avoid wasting a set level, on return at 5/6 within the first-set tie-break. The lone break of the match got here in its remaining recreation, when Fritz was unable to increase the entertaining match.
“I believe doubles, it offers you extra alternatives to make nice photographs, nice volleys,” mentioned Alcaraz, whose showmanship was on full show. “However doubles isn’t just about one participant. You must workforce up with an ideal participant like I did in the present day with Jakub. Because of him together with his nice photographs, nice abilities on the volleys as properly, he made me really feel snug on the court docket.”
Mensik, who additionally beat Michelsen in singles earlier on Friday, accomplished an ideal Laver Cup debut by profitable each of his matches on Day 1. The motion continues in San Francisco on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. native time.
Because the begin of Laver Cup in 2017, no workforce has come again from 3-1 right down to win.
