The sixth edition of the Laver Cup got off to an amazing start in Vancouver, Canada on Friday (September 22).

The Laver Cup, the brainchild of Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer, is contested annually between six European players (Team Europe) and six players from outside Europe (Team World). The teams compete across one weekend with four matches played each day— singles matches and one doubles match.

Points are allocated as follows:

Friday- 1 point each
Saturday- 2 points each
Sunday- 3 points each

With 24 points on offer, the winning team is the first to thirteen points.

After defeating Team Europe for the first time in last year’s edition, Team World started their title defense brilliantly as both Ben Shelton and Franciso Cerundolo dispatched Arthur Fils and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina respectively, each in straight sets, to take the first two points available in the first session of Day 1.

The night session began with the ever exciting Gael Monfils taking on hometown favourite Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian was able to handle the Frenchman and won in straight sets.

The doubles pair of Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe needed the full three sets but managed to beat out Andrey Rublev and Arthur Fils, who returned to doubles action after falling in singles earlier in the day. This capped the day’s action and meant that all four wins and four points went the way of Team World.

Team World will look to capitalise on this momentum and Team Europe will hope with eight points on the board today (September 23), to register some wins and apply scoreboard pressure on their rivals. Rublev will debut in singles and square off against Taylor Fritz while Casper Ruud and Tommy Paul will close out the morning session of Day 2.