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Roger Federer took advantage of the advice of his longest rival Tour to win against a newer opponent on Saturday at the Laver Cup. While Rafael Nadal offered a good strategy, the Swiss teamed up to defeat Nick Kyrgios 6-7 (5), 7-5, 10-7 and give Team Europe a 5-3 lead over Team World.
All of Saturday's games are worth two points, compared to Friday's, which was worth one point. Federer is 3-0 against Kyrgios in the Laver Cup and now leads 6-1 to the rivalry with their FedEx ATP Head2Head.
"I was hoping it was going to be like this. It was incredible, "said Federer. "It was hard to lose that first set. I needed energy, so I was just trying to stay with Nick because if you could rotate it, you could have the crowd behind you. I need earplugs for the next game!
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The two men exchanged early service breaks in the first set and finally forced a tie. Federer sprinted to a 4/0 lead, but started to get tight and let out some unforced errors. Kyrgios responded by running a four-point run and won the final three points of the deciding game to take a considerable lead.
Although the Swiss continued to serve comfortably, he failed to qualify at most basic exchanges. His teammates remained silent throughout the match, but Nadal took over and proposed statistics, with Federer remaining in the match at 4-5 in the second set.
"After five shots [in the rally]you earn more [points] than him, "said Nadal. "I know it's difficult because it reads the ball so well … wait for the good one and then attack because it's not missing."
Coach Nadal ?@Rafael Nadal | #LaverCuppic.twitter.com/X32z8VeeR8
– ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) September 21, 2019
The plan worked to perfection while Kyrgios accumulated a pair of unforced errors to give Federer a 5-5 break. At the next change, Nadal urged Federer to add more rotation to his service and hit higher balls to disrupt the Australian's pace. The strategy produced a comfortable wait for service to force a match-tie-break.
Federer kept his best tennis for the most important moment. A reverse volley that gave him a 3-2 lead over the mini-break as Kyrgios began to tighten on his back, pushing him to make short swings to the ball that allowed the Swiss to jump. Federer took a 9/4 lead in the deciding match and a forehand sent off by Kyrgios three points later ended the game after one hour and 51 minutes.
<img height = "1080" alt = "John Isner party to Wash Cup 2019 "width =" 1920 "src =" http://www.atptour.com/-/media/images/news/2019/09/21/14/40/isner-laver-cup-2019-saturday.jpg? the = in "/>
John Isner opened the day with a solid finish against Alexander Zverev, who won 6-7 (2), 6-4, 10-1, equalizing the 3-3 score between Team World and Team Europe.
Isner scored the only breakthrough of the match 4-4 in the second set, and then won the first seven points of the deciding match to win in one hour and 34 minutes. The American gave Zverev his first loss in singles in the Coupe Laver (4-1), while Isner went to 2-3 in singles at the event. Isner improved his score to 2-6 thanks to his rivalry between FedEx ATP Head2Head and Zverev.
"I did not make progress on his service and he was the best player for 85% of the game. Once I got up 5-4, I had a lot of momentum and this was demonstrated in the decisive match, "Isner said. "Maybe we turn the tables. Team World is in the game and we are here to win it. "
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