PRAGUE, September 23, 2017

Croatian tennis star Marin Cilic won the first point in Laver Cup competition, defeating US-American Frances Tiafoe 7-6(3), 7-6(0) at the O2 Arena in Prague on Friday afternoon.

World No.7 Dominic Thiem of Austria added another point to Team Europe’s tally after a 6-7(15), 7-6(2), [10-7] win over The World’s John Isner.

“I was very nervous,” Thiem admitted. “I knew that it’s going to be a very tough and difficult match. I am happy that I won it in the end.”

In a battle of the NextGen ATP stars, Alexander Zverev of Germany edged past Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov 7-6, 7-6.

“We’ve only played twice,” said Zverev. “Maybe in 10 or 12 years people will look back and say we had a good rivalry, but it’s too early to say that now. Because of our age we’ve only played each other a couple of times. It’s also important not just to talk about me and Denis – there’s Dominic [Thiem] and Nick [Kyrgios] as well, and they could become rivals in time.”

Team World stroke back later in the evening, as Nick Kyrgios from Australia and and US-American Jack Sock won the doubles match over Rafael Nadal of Spain and Tomas Berdych from the Czech Republic. After a long day in Prague, Kyrgios was finally able to secure the 6-3, 6-7(9), 10-7 victory with an ace after 108 minutes.

Highlights Day 1:

That’s a wrap for an entertainment-jammed, action-packed day 1 at #LaverCup day 1. pic.twitter.com/cwVDCKZIA8

— Laver Cup (@LaverCup) 22. September 2017