Gauff wins and Team USA advances to United Cup final after Machac retires

World No.3 Coco Gauff engineered a dominant performance to deliver the first point for the United States and Taylor Fritz delivered the second after the Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac retired with injury. With an insurmountable 2-0 lead, the Americans advanced to the United Cup final to face Poland on Sunday. 

Gauff opened the tie by racing through a 6-1, 6-4 victory over No.22 Karolina Muchova to improve to a perfect 4-0 against the talented Czech. 

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“It’s never easy against Karolina,” Gauff said. “The whole match I was intense and focused and I think that made the difference today. Happy to get my team off to a good start here in Sydney.”

Sunday’s final will feature the No.1 and No.2 seeds, as the top-seeded Americans will face No.2 seeds Poland. The Americans took home the title two years ago in the event’s inaugural edition, with Fritz teaming up with Jessica Pegula to deliver the win. 

Entering Saturday night’s showdown at Ken Rosewall Arena, Gauff had never lost a set to Muchova, winning all six contested. Showing no signs of fatigue from the cross-country trip from Perth, Gauff came out of the gates hot and confident. She needed less than 10 minutes to build a 3-0 lead and closed out the opening set by saving two break points in her final game.

Gauff led 4-2 in the second set before Muchova settled in and broke the American’s serve for the first time, doing it in style with a pitch-perfect volley. But Gauff’s baseline defense proved too much for Muchova. Muchova handed the break back with an errant game and Gauff served out the 90-minute win.