Crazy, crazy stuff.
Alexander Zverev Secures Opening Tie For Defending Champions Germany At United Cup
NewsSunday, 29 December 2024 at 10:35
Alexander Zverev led Germany to the opening-tie win at the 2025 United Cup after Laura Siegemund's heroics.
In 2024, Germany won the United Cup after they had to play the deciding mixed doubles match in every single tie that they played at the event, with Laura Siegemund teaming up with Alexander Zverev to deliver some crucial points.
In that edition, Angelique Kerber led the German team in the women's singles, but she's not part of the team this year, so Siegemund took over the singles duty.
In her first match at the event, the WTA World No. 80 took on the much higher-ranked Beatriz Haddad Maia from Brazil. Naturally, the Brazilian player was the favorite, but after her loss to China's Xinyu Gao, ranked 175th, her confidence was certainly not at the highest.
And that showed in this match. In the first set, Haddad Maia led 3-1 after saving three break points in the previous games, but that lead was very short-lived, as Siegemund was the better player in the remainder of the set.
Siegemund won five games in a row to complete a comeback from 1-3 down, winning the first set of the match 6-3. But her lead also didn't last long, as her Brazilian opponent increased the intensity in the second set.
Haddad Maia won it 6-1, forcing the decider, which was really dramatic. She saved a total of six break points, but when facing the seventh, she felt the pressure and produced one of the worst serves ever seen to double fault and lose her serve for the first time in the set.
Although Haddad Maia then broke back, she lost her serve again, and ultimately, Siegemund won the match 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, putting Zverev in a very good position ahead of his singles match.
Almost every time in their 2024 triumph, Zverev had to come back from behind and then also play the mixed doubles, but this time, he had a chance to end the tie already after the second match.
That certainly motivated the ATP World No. 2 player, who took on Thiago Monteiro, ranked 109th in the world, so much lower than the highest-ranked player at this event.
Zverev showed why he was the highest-ranked player at the 2025 United Cup in this match because he started with a break of serve and easily held it for the remainder of the set.
Thanks to that, he won the first set 6-4, and he started the second set identically, once again breaking Monteiro's serve. During the entirety of the match, the Brazilian player didn't get to a single break point, which meant an easy win for Zverev.
Zverev won the match 6-4, 6-4, securing a win over Brazil. As a result, he then didn't have to compete in the mixed doubles match, which Siegemund and Tim Puetz won against Carolina Alves and Rafael Matos 7-6(8), 6-4, to secure a 3-0 win for Germany.
In their second tie of the group stage, Germany will take on China for the top spot in the group.
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