Team Europe jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first day of Laver Cup action in Prague. But, despite the lopsided score, the matches were extremely competitive. In the four matches, seven out of the eight sets were decided by a tiebreaker and two matches were decided by a match tiebreak.

In the first singles match, Marin Cilic defeated Frances Tiafoe 7-6, 7-6. The young American showed his potential in the match, holding his own against the former US Open champion. And after dropping the opening set, he bolted out to a 4-1 lead in the second. But the experience of Cilic appeared to kick in as he settled down late in second and fought his way back to a tiebreaker. There, he took full control as he won all seven points to take the match giving Team Europe an early lead.

Dominic Thiem would follow for Team Europe, outlasting John Isner 6-7, 7-6, (10-7). Isner played to his strength early as he served big and kept his first-serve percentage high. However, he could not find success against the Austrian’s serve and the set would be decided by an epic tiebreak. With both players stingy on their serve, it was Isner who finally found an opening with the tiebreak even at 15-15. He would capitalize on a mini-break and follow that by closing the set out on his racket.

It was more of the same in the second set as the two players continued to control their service games. But in the tiebreaker, Thiem jumped out to a 5-0 lead which was too much for the American to overcome.

The battle would be decided in a match tiebreaker where Isner, once again, used his serve as an advantage and gained a 4-0 lead. But Thiem would claw back, behind strong baseline play, winning seven of the next eight points.  Isner could not return the tiebreak to even ground and Thiem earned a point for Team Europe.

Thiem admitted that he felt some pressure in the team atmosphere, “The stadium was packed and I was maybe a bit more nervous because the players are also responsible for the team, and on the tour, if you lose, it's fine, it's only for yourself.”

The third singles match featured two Next Generation players as Alexander Zverev defeated Denis Shapovalov 7-6, 7-6.

The Canadian held a set point in the opening set with Zverev serving at 4-5. But the German would quickly right the ship and gained control. He would take the momentum into the tiebreaker where he raced out to a 6-1 lead and closed it out at 7-3.

In the second set, Shapovalov fought off 4 match points to force a tiebreak. But a couple costly errors late tilted the match in favor of Zverev.

The nightcap featured the doubles team of Tomas Berdych and Rafael Nadal against Jack Sock and Nick Kyrgios and, as expected, it turned into an entertaining encounter. Team World would finally scratch the scoreboard after a 6-3, 6-7, (10-7) win.

The match featured some tremendous and highly-entertaining points. Sock-Kyrgios turned on the flash and they took the first set at 6-3. But as expected Team Europe fought back to force a tiebreaker in the second set and would even the match there. In the match tiebreaker, Sock-Kyrgios gained control with the score equal at seven apiece. They would rattle off the final three points to give Team World their first point of the match.

It was a successful day of tennis at the inaugural version of Laver Cup and many who thought it would have the feel of an exhibition were pleasantly surprised. Both teams clearly were there to compete and did so at a high level.

The captains felt the intensity as well. Team Europe captain Bjorn Borg said, “I think I was more nervous today than when I was playing, because when you play you have control.”

Despite many smiles on the benches of the two squads during play, it was clear that the main goal was to win, and it was Team Europe who won the day. Points will be doubled on Saturday as play resumes.