Europe’s Zverev wins clincher to claim Laver Cup

Germany’s Alexander Zverev defeated Canada’s Milos Raonic 6-4, 3-6, 10-4 in the decisive singles’ match on Sunday as Team Europe beat Team World 13-11 in Geneva, Switzerland, to win the Laver Cup for the third straight time.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal was unable to play Sunday due to a hand injury and Team Europe was staring at an 11-7 deficit entering the final two matches.

Swiss Roger Federer kept Team Europe alive with a 6-4, 7-6(3) win over American John Isner before Zverev knocked off Raonic.

Team World started Sunday with Americans Jack Sock and Isner posting a 5-7, 6-4, 10-8 victory over Federer and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, the latter replacing Nadal.

American Taylor Fritz followed with a 7-5, 6-7(3), 10-5 win over Austria’s Dominic Thiem to give Team World the four-point lead.

Team Europe has won all three Laver Cup competitions. Next year’s event will be held in Boston.

Meanwhile, top-seeded Daniil Medvedev rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Croatia’s Borna Coric to become the first Russian to win the St. Petersburg Open since Mikhail Youzhny in 2004.

It was the third title of the season for Medvedev, who has reached the finals in five straight events.

Medvedev has won 24 of his past 27 matches and leads the ATP Tour in wins (54-17).

Medvedev recorded seven aces and didn’t commit a double fault while winning in 72 minutes.

The fourth-seeded Coric had two aces and two double faults.

Elsewhere, top seed Naomi Osaka held off Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3 to finally win the Toray Pan Pacific Open after two previous runner-up finishes at the event in Osaka, Japan.

Born in Osaka, she finished second in the tournament in 2016 and 2018.

It’s the first title for Osaka since winning the Australian Open in January.