Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Jodar star in Laver Cup action to hand Team Europe crucial day one advantage

LONDON — Team Europe lead Team World 3-1 after a thrilling day one of Laver Cup action with their Spanish contingent playing a key role in the evening session.

Debutant Rafael Jodar put in the performance of the day with a 6-2, 6-4 dismantling of Alexander Bublik before Carlos Alcaraz stole the show in the doubles in the final match.

Alcaraz and Jakub Mensik edged a 6-4, 6-4 win against Team World's Taylor Fritz and Bublik with the Kazakh experiencing disappointing back-to-back defeats.

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In the first match of the evening, Jodar took the opening set with relative ease at 6-2 with the 20-year-old showing no signs of nerves in his debut Laver Cup appearance. 

Bublik found himself losing the first four games of the second set too as the Jodar juggernaut continued a barrage of stunning forehand and backhand winners with brilliant athleticism.

Team World captain Andre Agassi looked a little concerned throughout Bublik's first match with the Kazakh having few answers to Jodar's game as he edged closer to victory.

His teammate Fritz would have been hoping a better version of Bublik was to come next as they paired up to take on Alcaraz and Mensik; the latter already having lost in the afternoon session to Brandon Nakashima in singles.

There's no such thing as the perfect l-- 😮‍💨@carlosalcaraz | #LaverCup | #TennisUnrivaled pic.twitter.com/zk2dYKgyOP

Alcaraz, by far the most popular player inside the O2 with the fans, was the last of the four to serve in the second match and immediately needed to save three break points to hold.

It was in fact Bublik who was eventually broken first as Alcaraz delivered a brutal overhead smash to close out the seventh game and let out a trademark roar. Team Europe went on to take the first set 6-4.

Team Europe continued to turn the screw, going up an early break in the second set, and went onto victory with ease to hand Yannick Noah's side some extra breathing space going into tomorrow's matches.