Brandon Nakashima shines on Laver Cup debut as Team World spark instant response

LONDON — Brandon Nakashima picked up Team World's first point of the 2026 Laver Cup as he defeated Jakub Mensik in the opening session on day one.

Team Europe had earlier bagged the first point of the competition as Casper Ruud beat Francisco Cerundolo (World) 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 10-8 before the American levelled the scores.

Ruud and Cerundolo faced off in the opener in 2024 with the Argentine taking a 6-4, 6-4 victory to hand Ruud his only singles loss in Laver Cup play.

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World No.17 Ruud slogged away for two hours in order to gain a crucial first point of the Laver Cup, coming from a set down to win via a 10-point tiebreak in a match you could hardly separate the two.

So spare a thought for the Dane, who'd have just come off the iconic black court, only to see his team-mate Mensik lose the opening set 1-6 inside 23 minutes in the second match.

Any concerns Nakashima, only drafted in last week to replace Ben Shelton and making his Laver Cup debut, had any nerves were quickly put to bed with a ferocious start; Mensik had no answers as he lost the opening five games on the spin.

Mensik soon steadied the ship though and grabbed an early break to lead 2-0 in second set, before finding his best form with plenty of stunning forehand winners keeping his captain Yannick Noah barely on his seat with excitement as he forced a match deciding tiebreak.

It was Nakashima who held his nerve in the 10-point tie-break in the final stages, eventually winning 6-1, 3-6, 10-7 as Team World captain Andre Agassi breathed a huge sigh of relief to be up and running with a point on the board.

In Friday's evening session, Rafael Jodar (Europe) takes on Alexander Bublik (World) before the first doubles match features the latter teaming up with Taylor Fritz to take on European duo Mensik and Carlos Alcaraz.