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Coco Gauff moved her head-to-head with Iga Swiatek one small step in the right direction with a 6-4, 6-4 win of at times outrageous quality in Sydney. Gauff’s victory gave Team USA a 1-0 lead in the United Cup final, before Taylor Fritz edged past Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(4) to clinch the title.
Swiatek now leads Gauff 11-3, but the American has won their last two meetings as she reworks the forehand and serve that hampered her for much of the 2024 season. Gauff, who added grip expert Matt Daly to her coaching team after splitting with Brad Gilbert, whipped Swiatek’s notoriously heavy forehand onto the lines time and again throughout, varying height and spin to keep the world No. 2 from establishing the baseline rhythm that so often sees her dominate players.
As at the WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Swiatek made more forehand unforced errors than Gauff — but her groundstroke performance in Riyadh was completely errant, while this was a much closer contest that the Pole led on multiple occasions.
Swiatek looked hampered by the right-thigh injury that she has carried since beating Britain’s Katie Boulter after a titanic eighth game of the second set, in which Gauff broke for 4-4. This made the last two games a disappointingly flat end to what had been an incredible encounter. Gauff will exit with renewed confidence in their thus-far slanted rivalry, while Swiatek will look at being a break up in both sets as both an opportunity missed and encouragement for the rest of the 2025 season.
“I have the belief now that I am one of the best players in the world,” Gauff said on the court.
Hurkacz earned a 2-0 lead at the start of the third-set tiebreak against Fritz, who reached his maiden Grand Slam final at last year’s U.S. Open and reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 in the world. But the Pole tightened when on the front foot in two baseline exchanges, moving forward at the wrong time and letting Fritz move out in front.
It is Team USA’s second United Cup title, after winning the inaugural 2022 edition against Italy. Poland has now reached the final twice, losing on both occasions.
(Top photo: Brendon Thorne / Getty Images)
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