‘ INDIA NEED QUALITY
Chicago, Sept. 23: Kevin Anderson avenged a Wimbledon finals loss to Novak Djokovic as Team World dominated the night session Saturday to climb back into contention at the 2018 Laver Cup.
Anderson’s surprise win, combined with a doubles victory by World’s Jack Sock and Nick Kyrgios over Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin, slashed Europe’s overall lead to 7- 5 heading into Sunday’s third and final day of the exhibition tournament.
Earlier Saturday, Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev powered Europe into a commanding 7- 1 lead by winning their singles matches to set a daunting task for the underdog World team in Chicago.
South Africa’s Anderson got the fight back started by upsetting reigning Wimbledon and US Open champ Djokovic 7- 6, 5- 7, 10- 6 to earn two points for Team World at the United Center arena.
“We’ve had some really close matches that haven’t gone our way and I really wanted to put us back in there,” said Anderson.
“It’s not easy playing one of the best players of all time, but what an amazing atmosphere. It’s just fantastic, for so many reasons. I felt I played a great match - beating Novak on any stage is great and here in Chicago makes it extra special.”
Under the scoring system for the Laver Cup, victories on day two are worth two points each, with victories on day three rising to three points.
Defending champion Europe needs 13 points to take the title, which is being held for the second time.
World number two Roger Federer was barely ruffled as he cruised to a Seoul, Sept. 23: Kiki Bertens defeated Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in the Korea Open final on Sunday, securing her third WTA Tour singles title of the season to continue her careerbest year.
The second- seeded Bertens came back from break down in the deciding set to defeat the Australian in two hours and 22 minutes and add a seventh title to her collection.
In the narrowly contested match, the Dutchwoman rallied past the unseeded Tomljanovic to grab a 76( 2), 4- 6, 6- 2 victory.
Bertens was broken twice in the first set but fought back each time and then dominated the tiebreaker.
But Tomljanovic came back with her best tennis of the match to take the second, coming from 3- 4 down and winning five games in a row to send the match into a decider.
And the Australian looked like she might complete the comeback as she took a 2- 0 lead, but the battling Bertens fought back, winning the final six games of the match and sealing the title with a powerful forehand. The trophy is the Dutchwoman’s third of the season, following championship runs in Charleston and Cincinnati. 6- 3, 6- 2 win over Kyrgios.
“I felt good from the beginning of the match and that’s not usual,” said Federer. “Usually you need matches to get going and play your best in the third round or quarters of a tournament.” Earlier, Zverev saved a match point to defeat John Isner in day two’s opening singles rubber.
Zverev, 21, dug deep to hold off the big- serving Isner to win 3- 6, 7- 6 ( 8/ 6), 10- 7. RESULTS
Kevin Anderson win over Novak Djokovic, combined with a doubles victory by Jack Sock and Nick Kyrgios over Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin, slashed Team Europe's overall lead to 7- 5