The triumph had been teed up by the earlier singles win at the United Center by Switzerland's Roger Federer, who overcame American John Isner, which had restored the lead Team Europe had held after the opening two days.

With the reward for victory on the last day being increased from two points to three, Team World’s opening doubles win, with US pairing Isner and Jack Sock beating Zverev and Federer 4-6, 7-6, 11-9, put them into the lead by 8-7.

But Federer switched the initiative back towards Europe as he beat Isner to give his team a 10-8 lead, although his 21-year-old German team-mate still had to win for the trophy that was first contested in Prague last year to remain in the same hands.

Zverev's 6-7, 7-6, 10-7 victory spared Novak Djokovic a final singles rubber against Australia's Nick Kyrgios, the Serbian having lost his first two matches of the competition on Friday (September 21) and yesterday.

"I'm just happy to get the win and we defended the title," Zverev said after the event.

"I mean, Roger [Federer] is not a good coach, but we will leave that.

"No, he helped me a lot, he gave me some tactical advice and it worked because I won the second set and then the match tie-break.

"It was such a close match all around, not only this one but all weekend - a few points here and there and it could have been different."

The European team was led by Swedish tennis legend Bjorn Borg, who said: "It's been an unbelievable week.

“I'm very proud of my team - we knew it was going to be very difficult to beat Team World."

Next year's competition will take place in Geneva from September 20 to 22.