Coco Gauff beats Iga Swiatek for second straight ahead of Australian Open as USA wins United Cup | Tennis news
Coco Gauff set the bar ahead of the Australian Open by defeating Iga Swiatek for the second time in a row to help the USA beat Poland in the United Cup.
Gauff followed up her win over Swiatek at the WTA Finals in Riyadh in November with a 6-4 6-4 victory in Sydney on Sunday before Taylor Fritz beat Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 5-7 7-6 (7-4) and gave the USA an unattainable 2-0 lead ahead of the rubber pairs.
World number three Gauff said after seeing off world number two Swiatek: “I believe I’m one of the best players in the world and when I play good tennis I’m hard to beat.”
Gauff took a 2-0 lead in the first set, only for Swiatek to break it back and trail 3-2, but ran into 19 unforced errors from the Pole and lost four of the next five games.
Gauff double-faulted to lose serve in the second set, but earned that break at the end of the 10-minute game with a forehand pass to tie the game at 4-4.
She then broke Swiatek again to win the match after her opponent took a medical timeout as she took her singles record to 5-0 at this year’s United Cup, following previous wins over Leylah Fernandez, Donna Vekic, Zhang Shuai and Karolina Muchova.
Swiateka’s loss to Gauff was her only loss to the four-time major winner who has beaten Malene Helgo, Muchova, Great Britain’s Katie Boulter and 2022 Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina.
The Australian Open starts on January 12, and Gauff and Swiatek are looking to win it for the first time.
Their best results so far are reaching the semi-finals – Swiatek in 2022 before losing to Danielle Collins and Gauff last year when she lost to eventual champion Arya Sabalenka.
Sabalenka set herself up to defend her title with a win at the Brisbane International, after defeating world number 107 Polina Kudermetova 4-6 6-3 6-2.
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