Federer beats Kyrgios to put Europe ahead in Laver Cup

Geneva: Roger Federer edged out Nick Kyrgios in a super tie-break to give Europe a 5-3 lead after the opening session of the second day of the Laver Cup in Geneva on Saturday.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion, who won his first match alongside Alexander Zverev in Friday's doubles tie, beat Australian Kyrgios 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 10-7 to the delight of his 17,000-strong home crowd.

"The crowd could feel it, I could feel it. I needed to get some energy going but you can't do that if you don't play any good shots and Nick was playing very well," said Federer.

"I was just trying to stay focused. If you can turn the momentum, the crowd gets back into it and I need some earplugs next time, it was just phenomenal."

Bjorn Borg's holders had seen Team World draw level earlier with John Isner's victory over Zverev. The 38-year-old Federer had won his last two matches against Kyrgios in straight sets, but dropped the opener in a tie-break.

But he hit back to level the match with a break in game 11 of the second set, before holding off a late Kyrgios rally in the super tie-break to take it on his third match point.

Later, Rafael Nadal will play his first matches of the weekend when he takes on Milos Raonic in the singles, before teaming up with Stefanos Tsitsipas to face Kyrgios and Jack Sock in doubles.