Plenty to play for as United Cup quarter-finals kick off in Perth

2 months ago 19

The United States will look to continue their recent dominance at the United Cup when the team take on Greece in the first of the quarter-final matches to be played at RAC Arena in Perth on Wednesday.

Coco Gauff will be part of the USA team to face Greece in the quarter-finals of the United Cup in Perth.

Arriving in WA as the defending champions, the USA endured a tough start to reach the finals, with a 2-1 victory over Argentina to start the tournament.

Sebastian Baez produced a brilliant opening match for the South American side, defeating USA’s Taylor Fritz in three sets in one of the early upsets of the fixture.

The result meant that Coco Gauff needed to win both her singles match against Solana Sierra, which she managed in straight sets and in just 57 minutes, before teaming with Christian Harrison for the mixed doubles against María Lourdes Carlé and Guido Andreozzi after Fritz was a late withdrawal from the fixture.

A 6-4, 6-1 victory over Argentina was enough to guide the US team to the next round, where they faced Spain to progress through to the quarter-finals.

This time it was Gauff who faltered, losing to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in three sets while Fritz drew his side level with a win over Jaume Munar.

The decider came down to the mixed doubles again with the American duo of Gauff and Harrison able to seal their path through to the finals with a two-set victory over Argentina.

Their opponents in the first of today’s quarter-finals, Greece, won their opening tie of the tournament, defeating Japan 3-0 with Maria Sakkari setting the tone with a 6–4, 6–2 victory over Naomi Osaka.

Stefanos Tsitsipas then accounted for Shintaro Mochizuki to seal the early victory before the Spanish pair combined for victory in the mixed doubles.

Sakkari and Tsitsipas then proved too good for Britain’s Emma Raducanu and Billy Harris in the singles matches to seal their path to the quarter finals.

In this evening’s quarter final in Perth, Switzerland will take on Argentina after the European team finished on top of their group, with the South American team qualifying as the highest ranked country in the Perth leg of the tournament.

The Swiss side accounted for France in their opening fixture, with Belinda Bencic too good for Leolia Jeanjean and Stan Wawrinka winning a thriller against Arthur Rinderknech.

However, Switzerland were forced to win the mixed doubles in their next fixture against Italy to seal their passage through to the quarter finals tonight.

Wawrinka has already admitted he wants to play at his best for the tournament after announcing his plans to retire after the 2026 season.

Despite losing their second round tie against the USA, Argentina made it through to the finals with a 3-0 victory against Spain in their opening fixture to secure a spot in today’s final.