United Cup Day 5: Gauff and Paolini lead U.S. and Italy in pivotal ties

The first tie of this United Cup came down to mixed doubles and some almost unbearable drama. After Kazakhstan and Spain each won a tiebreak, it was reduced to a super tiebreak, which went to Elena Rybakina and Alexander Shevchenko.

Afterward, Kazakhstan captain Aleksandr Nedovyesov credited his non-playing team members with an assist.

“In the moments that you could not capitalize on the chances,” he said, “you need to find a way to stay positive. That’s why the team, the bench, was important for the players to get behind them, to get as much positive vibes to them so they can stay calm, they can stay focused. Teamwork was the key today.”

Maybe that’s why they call it the United Cup.

United Cup: Scores | Draws | Order of Play

Most weeks, the focus is on singles, the highest-ranked players going one-on-one. With the United Cup's best-of-three format, mixed doubles is the difference way more often than not. Last year 16 of the 25 matches were decided by a team of a man and a woman not always accustomed to playing together.

Germany won the title when Alexander Zverev and Laura Siegemund won super tiebreaks over Australia in the semifinals and Poland in the final.

Through four days, 10 of 14 ties went to a decisive mixed doubles matchup, and three were decided in extra innings -- including Poland’s 10-8 thriller on Monday. Two days earlier, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari prevailed 10-6 over Spain’s veteran squad to notch Greece’s first victory. Afterward, Tsitsipas explained to reporters how deceptively difficult it is for elite singles players to play against doubles specialists.

“They play very different to what we are used to, singles players, especially when we get to play singles guys that team up together that go out and play doubles,” Tsitsipas said. “That is one thing that you have to figure out from the beginning because it can really get into your head, the patterns, the way they play the points, the way they try to win points. This is something that takes a little bit of adjusting.”

Italy’s Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori have the rare ability to communicate without much discussion. They played at the Olympics in Paris and later won the US Open -- after fighting off a match point in the first round.

“Maybe singles player can hit strong, serve better, but I think it’s also important to have good idea playing doubles,” Errani said. “Also mixed doubles it’s important to have good tactics, thinking a bit more, try to play a double and not two singles.

“Yes, we are a really good team, but in mixed doubles with the killer point and super tiebreak, it’s not easy. It can happen everything.”

Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt seconded that notion after his squad’s mixed doubles loss cost them a win.

 “Obviously there’s quite a lot of sudden death deuce points which can go either way,” he said. “We were on the wrong side of them tonight.”

There’s another wrinkle, introduced this year, that may take some getting used to.

In other sports, when things are getting out of hand, when a coach wants to settle players, he or she calls a timeout. For the first time, United Cup rules allow a doubles team -- as long as it’s their serve -- to call a 60-second timeout to regroup.

Let the record show that the first-ever timeout in doubles was taken by Spain in that match against Greece, down 9-6 and facing three match points. And while Greece captured the tie on the next point, timeouts will add a pregnant pause and create space for the drama to build.

“Timeouts initiate a pause in play, it’s a time for teams to discuss tactics and strategy and potentially change the momentum of a match,” United Cup tournament director Stephen Farrow said before the tournament. “We’re excited to see how the best tennis players in the world and their teams utilize this new tool."

On Tuesday -- New Year’s Eve -- buckle up for these two pivotal United Cup ties, as well as mounting action from Brisbane and Auckland.

Sydney

Group D: Italy (1-0) vs. France (0-1)

Start time: (10:30 a.m. local, 6:30 p.m. ET)

 Flavio Cobolli vs. Ugo Humbert

Jasmine Paolini vs. Chloe Paquet

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.

Perth

Group A: USA (1-0) vs. Croatia (0-1)

Start time: (10 a.m. local, 9 p.m. ET)

Taylor Fritz vs. Borna Coric

Coco Gauff vs. Donna Vekic

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 and 2023 champion 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 last summer 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.

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.

More WTA action

Brisbane International

Day 3 features some of the top seeds in action, including No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and No.4 Paula Badosa. Ons Jabeur, a winner in her first match in four months, will be tested by No.14 Ekaterina Alexandrova.

[4] Paula Badosa (ESP) vs E. Avanesyan (ARM) 
[1] Aryna Sabalenka vs R. Zarazua (MEX) 
Anna Blinkova vs [8] Mirra Andreeva 
Marie Bouzkova (CZE) vs [7] Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 
Ons Jabeur (TUN) vs [14] Ekaterina Alexandrova 
McCartney Kessler (USA) vs [15] Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 
[6] Anna Kalinskaya vs Ashlyn Krueger (USA) 
[5] Diana Shnaider vs Anhelina Kalinina (UKR) 

Auckland ASB Classic

The Top 2 seeds -- Madison Keys and Elise Mertens -- are in play on Tuesday, plus former Grand Slam champions Sofia Kenin (2020 Australian Open) and Emma Raducanu (2021 US Open).

Sofia Kenin (USA) vs Xiy. Wang (CHN) 
[1] Madison Keys (USA) vs Lucia Bronzetti (ITA) 
[WC] Vivian Yang (NZL) vs [2] Elise Mertens (BEL) 
Robin Montgomery (USA) vs [6] Emma Raducanu (GBR) 
Alycia Parks (USA) vs [3] Amanda Anisimova (USA) 
Yuliia Starodubtseva (UKR) vs Jaqueline Cristian (ROU) 
Hailey Baptiste (USA) vs [WC] Renata Jamrichova (SVK) 
Greet Minnen (BEL) vs [Q] Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER)