On Tuesday -- New Year’s Eve -- buckle up for these two pivotal United Cup ties.
Start time: (10 a.m. local, 9 p.m. ET)
(1) Taylor Fritz vs. (18) Borna Coric
(1) Coco Gauff vs. (18) Donna Vekic
(1) Coco Gauff/Taylor Fritz vs. Donna Vekic/Ivan Dodig
A casual glance would suggest this one’s a massive mismatch. The United States, featuring Top 5 players Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz, is the No.1 seed at the United Cup, while Croatia is No. 18 -- of 18 teams.
But dig a little deeper and you’ll find that history says otherwise. That’s because Croatia’s singles players, Borna Coric and Donna Vekic, have a collective 5-0 head-to-head advantage over the Americans. Vekic beat Gauff in the Round of 16 on her way to the Olympic silver medal. Coric has won all four of his matches against Fritz, but there’s an asterisk: Those matches came between 2016-20.
On Sunday, Team USA -- featuring Gauff and Fritz -- defeated Canada 2-1 with a rollicking 7-6 (2), 7-5 victory in mixed doubles.
“We would play good points, then make some mistakes,” Fritz said. “In the tiebreaker, in the end of the second set, we cleaned up a lot of those mistakes we were making.”
Gauff never seemed too concerned.
“I was laughing,” she said. “I was having a good time. I wasn’t thinking about the pressure, to be honest. I was just like, `Whatever.’”
The United States is in good position to clinch a quarterfinal berth; Croatia needs to win to have even a chance. This tie marks the end of group play in Perth.
Start time: (10:30 a.m. local, 6:30 p.m. ET)
(4) Flavio Cobolli vs. (10) Ugo Humbert
(4) Jasmine Paolini vs. (10) Chloe Paquet
(4) Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori vs. (10) Elixane Lechemia/Edouard Roger-Vasselin
Last year, Paolini put together a career season, vaulting to No.4 among Hologic WTA Tour players from the No.30 position at the beginning of the year.
And while some players would feel pressure to replicate that success -- despite a decidedly dodgy history in the majors, she reached the finals at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon -- Paolini’s already wiped her mental slate clean.
“I think that it’s impossible to repeat 2024,” Paolini told reporters before the United Cup began. “Of course, you cannot do the same year. But you never know. I’m trying just to keep this level that I kept all last year as long as possible.”
The earliest returns are more than encouraging. Paolini took out Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-1 in Italy’s 3-0 victory over Switzerland on Sunday. Paolini won 32 of Bencic’s service points -- and all seven games. It was over in 58 minutes.
“I was really focused,” Paolini said afterward, “because I have so much respect for her. I think today I played really, really well, not too many mistakes. So I hope that this match is going to help me for the next one, and for the Australian Open and Adelaide.”
The next one is against Paquet, who beat Paolini in their only previous meeting, although that came more than five years in Palm Harbor. Earlier, Paquet lost to Bencic in straight sets.
Cobolli, meanwhile, took care of Dominic Stricker in straight sets and will face Humbert, whom he has never played.
France must win to keep its hopes alive of advancing to the quarterfinals. Wednesday is the final day of group play in Sydney and will go a long way toward determining the quarterfinalists.
