On Friday, Team World won the first three singles matches of the Laver Cup international event, with Felix Auger-Aliassime defeating Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-3.
Team World also received victories from Ben Shelton and Francisco Cerundolo, as well as the doubles partnership of Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe.
During their encounter, Monfils returned to Auger-Aliassime’s side of the court twice to verbally spar with him, and the Canadian disregarded his remarks each times.
“At the end of the day, the goal is to get through and win,” Auger-Aliassime said of the fight. “I take all matches seriously, and I want to compete, win, and have fun while doing it.”
Monfils often played to the audience, cupping his ear to hear shouts or perched on advertising hoardings near the side of Rogers Arena’s black court and shrugging to the fans when a call didn’t go his way. The French player was heard on the microphone telling Team Europe captain Bjorn Borg that he “was here to have fun” and looked unhappy by the referee’s rulings during the game.
“There is competition. When questioned about the answer, Auger-Aliassime replied, “Things got a little heated in the moment with tension.”
“I think the Laver Cup has the potential to be taken very seriously, not just now, but also in the future,” Auger-Aliassime said. “We’re just taking it seriously, and it got a little heated for a couple of games.”
“Gael is someone I like, so there’s no tension apart from what just happened.”
It was a rematch between Auger-Aliassime and Monfils after they met three years earlier in the Laver Cup.
Throughout the match, Monfils had Auger-Aliassime work for it. He fired cross-court volleys regularly in an effort to put Auger-Aliassime on the back foot. However, the Montreal native excelled at serving, with an 85% winning rate on first serves and a 64% winning percentage on second serves. He followed it up with a strong net game, scoring 15 points to Monfils’ five.
As Team World grabbed an early lead against Team Europe, Shelton beat Arthur Fils 7-6 (4), 6-1. Cerundolo followed it up with a 6-3, 7-5 victory against Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina.
Shelton won 85 percent of first-serve points and recorded the match’s only two breaks, both in the second set.
“I thought it was a fantastic match.” “It was pretty high level from the beginning,” he remarked.
Cerundolo dominated his match against Davidovich-Fokina with four aces, but he failed to finish off his European opponent.
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