United States back into United Cup final, to face Poland for title
Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz won both their singles matches to give the US team a 2-0 win over Czechia
Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz
Image Credit: Imago/ Zuma/ Panoramic/ Tennis Majors
Two years after winning the United Cup, the United States team is back in the final following a 2-0 win over Czechia.
Former US Open champion Coco Gauff gave her team the best possible start with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Karolina Muchova.
“It’s never easy against Karolina,” said Gauff as quoted by the United Cup website. “The whole match I was intense and focussed and I think that made the difference today. Happy to get my team off to a a good start here in Sydney.”
In the second singles, Czech Tomas Machac came within one game of levelling the tie. Taking on Taylor Fritz, Machac served for the match at 7-6(4), 5-3 before Fritz fought back to take the second set in a tiebreak. Machac then went on to retire from the match due to cramps and left knee pain, giving the US team and unbeatable 2-0 lead.
“He said he’d been cramping for a couple games already. I didn’t notice, but yeah,” Fritz said in his on-court interview. “He was moving pretty well, but I guess he was playing through it, fighting. It’s really humid in here. That’s something I was thinking was a possibility if I could win that set, take it to a third I was thinking maybe someone might start cramping later on. It’s tough conditions, it was a physical match.”
The US team will take on Poland in the final on Sunday. Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz will be hoping to go one better than their last year’s runner-up finish.
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