Gauff Teams Up With Fritz To Save Team USA At United Cup After His Shock Loss
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Coco Gauff proved to be her country's hero after winning two matches to seal the opening win at the 2025 United Cup.
The United Cup is a unique competition, putting ATP and WTA players together in one team. Previously, many more players were involved, as the ties were played in the best-of-five matches format. But since it became a best-of-three matches format, the event became a bit similar to the popular Hopman Cup.
The reason is simple, as it's mostly two elite singles players who team up for the country, often then also playing mixed doubles together. That was the case in the tie between the United States and Canada, as only two players in each team took part in the matches.
In the women's singles match, Gauff bested Leylah Fernandez, giving her team a 1-0 lead. But in the men's singles, Taylor Fritz shockingly lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The loss itself was not so shocking since Auger-Aliassime is obviously a very talented player, but the way it happened was. Fritz is the second highest-ranked ATP player at the event, and he was in total control of the match.
The American player was up 6-4 and 5-3, serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set. He didn't face a single break point until that point, completely dominating on his serve. Yet, he lost his serve twice in a row, going from 5-3 to 5-7 in the second set of the match.
In the third set, Auger-Aliassime proved to be the better player again, ultimately winning the match 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, sending the match into the deciding mixed doubles match.
In the mixed doubles, Fritz teamed up with Gauff, while Auger-Aliassime played with Leylah Fernandez. Both teams have experience playing together, as the Canadians won a match in their first tie at the United Cup, while the Americans joined forces at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Gauff and Fritz broke first in the match, leading 4-2, but they were quickly broken back, and the first set had to be decided in a tie-break, with nothing separating the two teams.
The Americans won the tie-break 7-2, securing the crucial first set. In the second set, Gauff and Fritz broke first again, but they were again immediately broken back.
This time, however, they were able to add one more break of serve at 5-5 to lead 6-5, and with one final hold of serve, the American duo won the match 7-6(2), 7-5 to win the tie against Canada.
Despite proving to be the hero for her nation, Gauff was not in a heroic mood after the two wins, joking around during the press conference.
"Oh, yeah, I was having fun. The bench... I was laughing. I was having a good time. I wasn't thinking about the pressure, to be honest. I was just like, Whatever... Only so much I can do in a mixed doubles match, too. I was just trying my best to have fun and enjoy it, yeah."
