The blood-splattered Demon rose from the charcoal-colored court creating a rousing revival day.
A feisty Alex de Minaur saved match point in the tiebreaker shocking US Open champion Alexander Zverev 2-6, 7-6(5), 11-9 in a Laver Cup thriller at London’s O2 Arena today.
Reigning Roland Garros champion Zverev dominated this match for a set-and-a-half. Zverev served for the match at 6-2, 5-4 and held match point at 9-8 in the 10-point tie break.
The man nicknamed Demon found new life in tennis’ version of sudden death.
The Laver Cup court is playing slower than Arthur Ashe Stadium where Zverev lit up the game’s biggest Grand Slam stage stopping Ben Shelton to win his maiden US Open crown. Zverev rode a blistering serve to success in Flushing Meadows.
Today, de Minaur exploited the slower, lower-bouncing O2 Arena court. Hitting his flat strikes to make the bigger man bend, de Minaur sometimes played short and low dragging Zverev forward. On other occasions, de Minaur showed his sharp net skills with point-finishing volleys.
De Minaur snapped Zverev’s nine-match winning streak, handing the world No. 2 his first loss since he fell to Tommy Paul in the Cincinnati Open round of 16 last month.
A resilient de Minaur staked Team World to a 5-3 lead over Team Europe.
It came after lefty American Learner Tien fought off French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 2-6, 10-7 to improve to 8-8 vs. Top 10 opponents.
Playing with grit and guile, de Minaur hurled his body across the court for a sensational stab volley in the tie break, scrambled to his feet and scraped out the point when Zverev’s shot sailed wide.
That stirring sequence opened up a cut on de Minaur’s leg and one on his hand that bled through the rest of the breaker, while the Aussie was so focused on the point at hand he seemed oblivious to the blood splatter until the very end.
That sequence brought a huge smile to fellow Aussie and Team World Vice-Captain Patrick Rafter, a “swashbuckling net rusher”, as MC Andrew Krasny called the two-time US Open champion, thrilled to see de Minaur play brave attacking tennis on some pivotal points.
“If you can notice, my blood is red as well,” de Minaur told Jim Courier afterward pointing to the blood seeping from a cut below his left knee. “What can I say? It was a very tough match, a very tough battle.
“I left it all out there. I got fortunate at the end to get the job done.”
Confronting a match point at 8-9 in the 10-point super tie break, de Minaur dug in and played nearly every single ball to Zverev’s weaker forehand wing. Dipping his flat drives at the 6’6” German’s shins, de Minaur coaxed an errant slice forehand error to save the match point.
On his first match point, de Minaur attacked a second serve, but a sudden intrusive flashing of digital advertising on the scoreboard behind the baseline prompted chair umpire Kader Nouni to rule a replay of the point leaving de Minaur looking frustrated before he reset.
Tossing up a high lob, de Minaur pushed the two-time Grand Slam champion back. Zverev did not do enough with a tame overhead, a racing de Minaur zapped a backhand down the line that lanced the sideline and watched the German’s running forehand find the net to end a thriller.
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