Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff produced pulsating singles victories to lead the United States to its second United Cup title in three years in Sydney Sunday night, handing Poland its second consecutive runner-up finish in the process.
After Gauff won an engrossing 6-4, 6-4 opening singles against Iga Swiatek that had Ken Rosewall Arena rocking, Fritz delivered the encore with a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(4) win over Hubert Hurkacz in a serve-dominated match that featured 30 aces and just three break points, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
Beginning their campaign in Perth, where the top seeds won Group A, tournament MVP Gauff and Fritz brought to the United Cup the form that led them to banner seasons in 2024, culminating with Gauff winning the WTA Finals Riyadh (where she also defeated Swiatek) and Fritz finishing runner-up at the Nitto ATP Finals.
Gauff, who did not drop a set in five singles matches, begins the year at No. 3 in the PIF WTA Rankings. Fritz, at a career-best No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings, dropped his opening match to Felix Auger-Aliassime in Perth but then won four straight.
“It’s amazing. It’s almost more fun to win the team events because you have people to celebrate with afterwards,” Fritz said. “Coco made it easy for me as the MVP on the team; it definitely helped my job a lot and its great to get it a second time.”
Gauff said, “It’s great to win a team event, the only team event I’ve ever won, so I’m super excited.”
With Fritz and Hurkacz both winning 80 per cent or better of first-serve points, opportunities to make inroads on return games were limited. As the match wore on Hurkacz’s growing confidence with his forehand – and new Wilson racquet – saw him hold his ground in extended baseline exchanges with Fritz. Hurkacz had a mini-break at 2/0 in the third-set tie-break, but the American’s self-belief in clutch moments carried him to his fourth win in five career Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with the World No. 16.
Gauff gave the United States the early lead over Poland after defeating Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-4 in the United Cup final on Sunday. In a blockbuster showdown between the World No. 2 and World No. 3, Gauff repeated her feat from the WTA Finals Riyadh by toppling the former No. 1 for a second straight time.
“I have the belief that I’m one of the best players in the world and when I play good tennis I’m hard to beat,” Gauff said. “Today I think I played some great tennis. I’m glad I was able to get a point for Team USA. It was tough today, I’m not gonna lie.”
Gauff has done her part to begin to close the head-to-head gap against Swiatek, who had won 11 of their previous 13 matches. But after adding coach Matt Daly to her team after the US Open last year, Gauff has enjoyed marked improvements in both her serve and forehand. The two shots were instrumental to her 6-3, 6-4 win over Swiatek during her title run at the WTA Finals in the fall and they proved the difference once again in Sydney.
Fans at Ken Rosewall Arena enjoyed a high-octane start to the match, with the two WTA stars trading feats of power and speed all around the court. Gauff struck first, breaking with a perfect forehand volley to lead 2-0, before Swiatek reeled off three straight games to lead 3-2.
But in a set that saw Swiatek strike 19 unforced errors to Gauff’s nine, the American’s superior consistency allowed her to win four of the next five games to win the physical first set.
Gauff confidently marched through the second set. Not even a double fault on break point could stall the relentless American. She pulled the break back in an intense 10-minute game with her all-court counter-punching, leveling the set to 4-4 with a threaded forehand pass.
With the momentum fully with the Americans, Gauff broke Swiatek one last time to seal the crucial win. Gauff finished her United Cup singles debut undefeated, with wins over Leylah Fernandez, Donna Vekic, Zhang Shuai, Karolina Muchova & Swiatek.
Credit: United Cup
