Team World aims for HTT Laver Cup title again · tennisnet.com

Team World took a big step towards the 2024 HTT Laver Cup on the second day of play at the 5th…

Team World took a big step towards successfully defending its title on the second day of the 5th HTT Laver Cup 2024 edition. The world selection, made up of the international HTT Assen, turned the 1:3 deficit it had opened up the evening before into a 7:5 lead with three wins on yesterday’s late summer Saturday, and could secure the fourth HTT Laver Cup title in the series with two more wins on the final day. A report by CL

The hope for the first red-white-red HTT Laver Cup title since 2019 is alive, but has diminished considerably after a partly unfortunate second match day – after the strong opening day. In order to break Team World’s winning streak at the HTT Laver Cup, from an Austrian perspective, an act of violence with three wins from the four remaining matches is needed on the upcoming final day. However, Team Austria certainly had the chance of a much better starting position for the final day on yesterday’s second match day. For example, for the “Tower of Strebersdorf” Kevin Suppin. The 36-year-old serve giant had fought back after an acute service crisis with series of double faults at the beginning of the first set, which was ultimately lost 2:6, and in the second set, after a 3:0 lead, with a super strong finish and two successful breaks after a 4:5 deficit, forced a decisive match tiebreak. There, as a more risk-taking and active player, he was close to victory at 6:4 when, after an out decision, his British opponent lost the courage to play to the lines. The two-time English HTT Cup champion – himself struggling with a brutally heavy arm in the finish – took advantage of this uncertainty and ended up 6:2, 5:7 and 10:8 to make it 3:3 in the overall ranking of the HTT Laver Cup 2024.

The brightest moments in the red-white-red HTT Laver Cup action yesterday Saturday were provided by Marcus Schischlik, who has been much criticized in HTT team competitions. The 28-year-old has had to endure a lot of media criticism in the past, as he always made his mistakes across the board and with a clear purpose when it came to supporting Team Austria with a win. And his duel with Italy’s young star Giuliano Wagner on the La Ville center court Lance Lumsden did not initially promise anything good. The 6-time HTT title holder from TC Strebersdorf slipped into a 1:6 defeat in just 29 minutes with an abysmal performance against an admittedly excellent and brilliantly playing Italian youngster. “I can’t see the ball, I can’t play on clay at this time of year anymore,” and the frustrated Schischlik said many more things to his bench, which then helped the doubles specialist get back on his feet and into the match. With two quick breaks, the 215-time HTT tournament participant quickly put a 4-0 lead between himself and his long-exasperated Italian opponent. A lead that Schischlik ultimately managed to tie the set at 6-3. And then it was suddenly upon us, the fourth match tiebreak in Marcus Schischlik’s HTT Laver Cup career. The 28-year-old had put all three tiebreakers before in the Liesing sand. But not in 2024. Schischlik outclassed Wagner 10-2 and put Team Austria 5-3 ahead with its first HTT Laver Cup match tiebreak win against Team World.

There was no chance of further red-white-red points gains in the third singles of the second match day. Terra Rossa Open 250 champion Florian Strutzenberger was on the losing side from the start against a powerful Teo Katic, and suffered a painful and bitter 2:6, 0:6 defeat. In the end, the WAT Landstrasse young star even apologized to the organizers for his disastrous performance. A slip-up on the red clay of the UTC La Ville, which Strutzenberger must quickly put behind him in the doubles. Speaking of doubles: there was nothing to cheer for Team Austria at the end of the sunny second HTT Laver Cup match day either. After an exciting and attractive exchange of blows, the Team World pair consisting of Luca Vanella and Ali Sharif prevailed against the Austrian duo Rene Gräflinger and Markus Bergsmann with 7:6 and 6:4. This means that Team World leads 7:5 before the final day and, as mentioned at the beginning, was able to celebrate the successful defense of its title at the HTT Laver Cup with two more victories.