10sBalls.com • TennisBalls.com
Home / Tennis News / Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff Lead USA Past Poland to United Cup Championship

Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff Lead USA Past Poland to United Cup Championship

Team USA, including Captain Michael Russell, celebrate with the trophy after beating team Poland in the finals of the United Cup tennis tournament on Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney on January 5, 2025. Photo by STEVE CHRISTO/AFP via Getty Images

American stars showed bold stripes in Sydney.

The 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff and 2024 US Open finalist Taylor Fritz each delivered superb singles performances leading the United States to its second United Cup in three years with a 2-0 triumph over Poland.

A shower of red, white and blue confetti rained down on a joyous American squad, captained by ATP Coach of the Year Michael Russell.

“Just incredible effort, competitiveness, and just the will to win. I mean, it’s just refuse to lose,” Captain Russell said of his players. “Coco just dug in, Taylor dug in, you know, all week. Tough matches.

“They played great. Energy from the bench was amazing. Just really proud of the whole team and to become successful and have the trophy at the end.”

Before a festive crowd at Ken Rosewall Arena, Gauff continued her strong surge that saw her capture the WTA Finals championship in Saudia Arabia last fall.

Tonight, Gauff transitioned from defense to offense brilliantly and held her own in key forehand exchanges defeating former world No. 1 Swiatek 6-4, 6-4 to stake the Americans to a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three match final.

World No. 3 defeated Swiatek for the second match in a row following her 6-3, 6-4 sweep in Riyadh at the WTA Finals. Gauff earned MVP honors for posting a 5-0 United Cup record while solidifying her status for another deep run in Melbourne.

“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.”

Fritz followed fighting off Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(4) in a thriller that saw the pair collaborate on heavy serving and some dazzling rallies.

Afterward, Fritz said Gauff, who used her Head racquet as a shovel to mime digging deep, was an inspiration—and a reminder of his Olympic doubles medal run last summer.

“I love it, honestly,” Fritz said. “That’s all Tommy [Paul] and I were saying during the Olympics. That was our celebration at the Olympics when we were winning those doubles matches.

“But yeah, I really appreciate, like, the competitor that Coco is. She’s played so well all week and fought so hard in all the matches. I can really have a lot of respect for that.”

A steamy two hour, 18-minute battle featured a total of 30 aces and only three break points.

A determined Hurkacz pulled off a spectacular diving forehand volley that recalled the young Boris Becker hurling himself across the SW19 lawn.

A calm Fritz imposed his forehand when he needed it most cracking some big strikes off both wings on critical points.

Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek, who played with strapping around her leg, said she ran out of steam against an in-form Gauff.

“I’m for sure happy, because, you know, I played some heavy hitters as well this week and also some girls that played tough,” said Swiatek, who scored wins over Katie Boulter, Karolina Muchova and Elena Rybakina. “I was able to play against both really great tennis. For sure today I wasn’t able to give 100%.

“Coco also played amazing, you know, and she’s for sure improving. But overall I’m really happy with the week. I feel like things I worked on really improved. But on the other hand, like, you know, this week, Australian Open is a different story, so still I’m gonna do everything step by step and continue the work that I have been doing.”