Coco Gauff Stuns Teary-Eyed Iga Swiatek In 2025 United Cup Final Epic
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Coco Gauff produced an exceptional performance to beat Iga Swiatek in the final of the 2025 United Cup.
Gauff and Swiatek have built an interesting rivalry. Although they have already met 14 times, Swiatek won 11 of their 12 meetings that were played before their match at the 2024 WTA Finals.
The American player won that match, and now she wanted to continue turning the tide in their rivalry, even though Swiatek entered their final match at the United Cup in good form, having beaten Elena Rybakina in the previous round.
With the match being played on a hard court, Gauff certainly had a slight advantage, as her Polish opponent is arguably one of the greatest clay-court players of all time.
The 20-year-old American had a much better start into this match, as she was able to break first despite Swiatek leading 40-15 in the second game of the match. Still, Gauff turned the score around, using her first break point.
She led 30-0 in the following game, but that's when the Polish player started turning the first set around. Swiatek broke back, and she soon added another break of serve, leading 3-2. But Gauff didn't give up.
The American player also broke back to tie the score at 3-3, when players were finally able to hold their serve for a few games without facing break points. That was until Swiatek felt the pressure of serving to stay in the set.
Gauff worked her way to a break point, which was also a set point, and she was able to convert it to win the opening set 6-4. In the first set, both players converted all of their break point chances.
Swiatek was determined to turn the score around, even though she never managed to do it against Gauff again. The American player was holding her serve effortlessly at the start of the second set, which frustrated the Polish player.
The WTA World No. 2 was seen teary-eyed on the bench as her good friend, Maja Chwalinska, tried to cheer her up, using the team competition format to her team's advantage. That seemingly worked, as a smile appeared on Swiatek's face.
That seemingly motivated Swiatek, who was able to break her opponent's serve and lead 3-2 in the second set. She confirmed the break, leading already 4-2, and it seemed that the match was heading into a decider.
Both were playing some incredible tennis, producing one stunning rally after another, but it seemed that Gauff had a higher ceiling. She was able to break back and hold her serve again to lead already 5-4.
That's when Swiatek requested an off-court medical timeout. It's something she did when losing also against Katie Boulter, which was a moment that caused some controversy.
However, the Polish player rejected that she tried to throw her opponent off, even though she later admitted that she noticed Boulter didn't play as well after the medical timeout. Coincidentally, Swiatek requested a medical timeout at the moment when she started losing in the second set of this match, too.
This time, it didn't help her to turn the match around, as she lost the subsequent game, which was one that she needed to win, hitting a double fault on her opponent's second match point.
Gauff won the match 6-4, 6-4, completing her perfect start of the new season to give Team USA a 1-0 lead in the 2025 United Cup final. Taylor Fritz will now try to decide the final in the match against Hubert Hurkacz. The Polish player will try to force the deciding doubles match.
