Coco Gauff saves Team USA with two impressive wins at United Cup

Saturday, 03 January 2026 at 16:04

byErik Virostko

The United States needed Coco Gauff to save the day at the 2026 United Cup, and she did, delivering two very impressive wins.

Both American No. 1s chose to start their season at the United Cup, creating a strong team. Fritz won the United Cup twice already, once in its inaugural edition in 2023, and once with Gauff last year, which means they entered this year's event as defending champions.

The first team standing between Team USA and a win was Argentina. Fritz was a huge favorite to beat clay-court specialist Sebastian Baez in the first match of the tie. Baez has won only eight hard-court matches in the previous two seasons.

But shockingly, Fritz couldn't win the match. He lost in three sets, 6-4, 5-7, 4-6. It was the first huge shock of the season, and the upset of the tournament so far. However, Fritz's subpar performance wasn't only due to rust, but also to the knee tendinopathy he has struggled with since the off-season.

"It's not the way I want to start off the year. There's definitely a lot of rust showing. I feel like he raised his level, especially in the third set, but also at times in the second set. I think the first set just from both of us wasn't a super high level. Ultimately in the end in the first set I won it because I put balls in the court, and he made mistakes."

"He started mentally cutting down on the mistakes, being very steady, but also dictating and being able to attack. For me, the ball just felt like it was really flying on me. I didn't feel like I had the control I wanted when I was trying to be offensive. I couldn't really do the things I wanted out there."

"Then I just had a couple of games where I served very poorly. He played solid. I was struggling to beat him from the back. He was beating me from the back a lot. The bad serving games really cost me."

Coco Gauff saves the day for Team USA after Taylor Fritz's loss

After Fritz's losses, American No. 1 on the WTA Tour had to step up, and she did. Gauff will be one of the favorites to finish the 2026 season as the world No. 1, and she has already shown great form in her first two matches.

In singles, the 21-year-old took on Solana Sierra, who is ranked 66th in the world. Although Sierra impressively beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in her first match at the event, she was no match for the two-time Grand Slam champion from the United States.

Gauff was great in the match, never allowing her opponent to even think about a win. The world No. 3 won the match in only 58 minutes, beating her opponent 6-1, 6-1, which meant that a mixed doubles match had to decide the tie.

With Fritz far from healthy, Gauff teamed up with the team's doubles specialist, Christian Harrison. The duo took on Maria Lourdes Carle and Guido Andreozzi, and impressively won in an hour and three minutes, beating the Argentinians 6-4, 6-1.

Gauff's two wins meant that Team USA won the first tie against Argentina, coming close to securing a play-off spot at the event. The United States now only needs to beat Spain, who lost 0-3 to Argentina, to make it through to the quarter-finals.

Although Gauff's performance will make many American fans happy, Fritz's injury struggles could derail the team's title defense.