Alcaraz's drop shots secure a revenge win over Fritz that evens the Laver Cup at 5-5

LONDON — Carlos Alcaraz squirmed his way out of trouble, saving two match points before producing a drop shot that ended a 6-3, 4-6, 13-11 revenge win over Taylor Fritz to even the Laver Cup at 5-5 on Saturday.

Fritz’s only career victory over Alcaraz came during Team World’s win over Europe in last year’s Laver Cup and the American had his chances to beat the Spaniard again.

But Alcaraz served an ace on Fritz’s first match point and then used a drop shot to save another, and Alcaraz finally won it on his third match point when Fritz got to his drop shot but couldn't get it back.

“The drop shot is part of my game,” Alcaraz said. “So in those moments, in those really close and important moments, I tried to use it because it was a really good weapon for me in this match and obviously I’ve been practicing the drops since I was a little kid.”

Fritz played a clean match with only nine unforced errors to Alcaraz’s 30. But Alcaraz led 42-20 in winners — often bringing the O2 Arena crowd to its feet, as Roger Federer and Andy Murray applauded from the front row.

It was Alcaraz's first singles match since he lost to Ben Shelton in a U.S. Open quarterfinal that ended at 3:33 a.m. He won a doubles match with Jakub Mensik on Friday.

Earlier, it was all Team World — which is captained by Andre Agassi — as Alex de Minaur had a 2-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9 comeback victory over Alexander Zverev and Learner Tien outlasted Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 2-6, 10-7.

In the final match of the day, Zverev partners with Casper Ruud against Alexander Bublik and Brandon Nakashima in doubles.

Wins are worth one point on Friday, two points on Saturday and three points on Sunday. The first team to reach 13 points wins.

De Minaur draws blood

De Minaur had blood trickling down his right leg after a diving volley he produced in the match tiebreaker against Zverev.

“If you can notice, my blood is red as well,” De Minaur said, referring to the color of Team World's shirts. “It was a very tough match. A tough battle. I left it all out there and got fortunate in the end to get the job done and happy to give some points for Team World.”

Europe had led 3-1 after Friday's play.

“We were in the same position last year and it worked out pretty well for us,” De Minaur said. “We know we can do some damage. We know we’re the underdogs, but we also know that we can step out on this court and light it up.”

Zverev wasted a match point

Zverev served for the match in the second set but double-faulted to hand De Minaur a break and the Australian stormed back into it.

Early in the match tiebreaker, De Minaur leaped for a volley and ended up sprawled on the black court before popping back up as Zverev's reply sailed out.

A few points later, Zverev also went down in a worrisome moment but appeared uninjured after his feet slipped out from under him as he hit a backhand.

Zverev then wasted a match point when he played passively and chipped a forehand wide.

There was more caution from Zverev on De Minaur's first match point as the French Open and U.S. Open champion hit a weak overhead to let the Australian back into the point. De Minaur then produced a backhand up the line that Zverev couldn't get back.

How did De Minaur keep believing?

“Keep asking questions. Give yourself a chance. And you never know if you put the ball in the court, you might get lucky," he said. "So that’s what I did today.”

Zverev's defeat ended his nine-match winning streak after the second-ranked player had followed his U.S. Open title with two Davis Cup victories for Germany last weekend.

Tien's stamina

The day's opening match also had drama.

On Tien’s first match point, he produced a blistering forehand passing shot that Cobolli could barely get his racket on to conclude a 34-shot rally.

The 13th-ranked Tien was making his Laver Cup debut.

Europe has won the Laver Cup five times while Team World took its third title in last year’s edition of the Ryder Cup-style event.

Yannick Noah is Europe's captain.