The United States defeats Poland to win their second United Cup

Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz both won their singles matches as the United States defeated Poland 2-0 on Sunday, securing their second United Cup mixed team tournament title in three years.

After Gauff defeated Iga Swiatek 6-4 6-4 in Sydney, Fritz overcame Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 5-7 7-6(4) to secure the title for the top seeds in the $10 million tournament, which started with 18 nations in contention.

In the tournament’s first iteration, which acts as a warm-up for the Australian Open Grand Slam, the Americans had also taken home the 2023 title.

After the second singles match was tied at one set each, Fritz rallied to defeat Hurkacz 3-3 in the decider’s tiebreak, igniting wild celebrations.

Fritz responded, “Congratulations to Poland on a great week,” to a disappointed Polish team that had placed second in the event for the second year in a row.

“The margins were quite narrow, and they are an extremely tough team. It might have gone any way, in my opinion.

“I would want to thank my staff for their incredible support. All weeks, the vibes were incredible. That’s among the things that contribute to our team’s excellence and the reason we’ve performed so well.

“We’ve simply gotten closer. It’s incredible.

In a thrilling match that gave Ken Rosewall Arena fans what they came for, Gauff earlier stepped up preparations for the year’s first major, which starts next Sunday, by defeating world number two Swiatek for the second time in a row.

The third-ranked player in the world, who defeated Swiatek to win the WTA Finals last season, lost a 2-0 lead in the opening set but fought back to win the match as her opponent tallied 19 unforced errors.

In a subsequent intense set, Gauff bounced back from a break to even the score at 4-4 and then won the match to guarantee she finished the tournament’s singles competition undefeated.

“I consider myself to be among the world’s top players. “I’m hard to beat when I play good tennis,” Gauff stated, defeating Karolina Muchova, Donna Vekic, Zhang Shuai, and Leylah Fernandez during the competition.
“I believe I played some excellent tennis today. I’m happy that I managed to earn a point for Team USA. I won’t lie; it was difficult today.