Nick and Jack win to keep World alive

NICK Kyrgios and Jack Sock have kept Team World within reach of Team Europe heading into the final day of the Laver Cup with victory in yesterday’s doubles rubber.

A pumped-up Kyrgios and Sock teamed up to overcome Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 to secure two crucial points and leave the overall score at 7-5 in favour of the Europeans.

“Our whole team is coming together and we’re going to ride this momentum into day three,” Kyrgios, who is 3-0 in Laver Cup doubles with Sock, said.

Trailing by a mini-break for 4-3 in the deciding tiebreaker, Kyrgios and Sock played brilliant tennis to win six points in a row and then soon after lock in victory.

“That’s one of the best 10-point tiebreakers I’ve ever seen a doubles team play, and they needed to because Rafa and Stefanos wanted it bad,” Team World captain John McEnroe said.

“It gives us some momentum going into tomorrow.”

The third annual Laver Cup will be decided by a doubles match and then three singles matches — each worth three points, with 13 needed for overall victory.

Earlier, Roger Federer and Nadal won their singles matches to open up a fourpoint advantage for Team Europe, after John Isner had drawn Team World level with victory over Alexander Zverev.

Federer maintained his 100 per cent Laver Cup record against Kyrgios when he rallied and raised his game in the decisive super-tiebreaker to beat the Australian star 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 10-7 in the afternoon session. NAOMI Osaka yesterday won her first singles title since the Australian Open in January by beating Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3 in the Toray Pan Pacific final in Osaka, Japan.