Gauff beats Swiatek at United Cup to set up tie decider
Coco Gauff earned a straight-sets victory over Iga Swiatek in the United Cup, leveling the scores between the US and Poland and setting up a decisive match.
Earlier in the day, Taylor Fritz lost to Hubert Hurkacz, but Gauff responded by beating Swiatek 6-4, 6-2.
The American star has now won three of her four singles matches at the United Cup, having secured victories earlier in the tournament over Solana Sierra and Maria Sakkari.
She followed that win with another straight-sets victory against Maria Sakkari. But she did lose one rubber so far, to Katie Boulter during USA’s Group C loss against Great Britain.
Coco Gauff shares thoughts after United Cup win over Iga Swiatek
During her post-match interview, Gauff highlighted the support she received from her team, saying: “My crowd support on the bench was really amazing.
“There’s a lot of Polish fans in the crowd, so I relied on my bench to cheer, but shout out to all the people who are cheering for me, I hear you.
“It’s Saturday, so there’s no bedtime, so can you guys stay and cheer for us in the mixed [doubles] please. Thank you.”
The American spoke about how she was able to maintain her composure and see out the match despite an attempted comeback from Swiatek.
Swiatek held serve to avoid a bagel and then broke Gauff back before eventually going down 6-2 in what was still a comfortable win for Gauff.
When asked about how she was able to close it out, Gauff replied: “I didn’t let the opportunities that I had in the first two times I had match points get away from me.
“She played well, maybe there was one error with the backhand but after that she played better tennis but I knew that if I was playing like this throughout this match that eventually it would happen,” she added.
Coco Gauff’s four-match win streak over Iga Swiatek
Gauff’s run of wins began at the 2024 WTA Finals in Riyadh, where she claimed a straight-sets victory and went on to lift the year-end trophy.
She then defeated Swiatek again in the United Cup final, giving the US an early lead before Taylor Fritz wrapped up the tie with his singles win.
Later that season, Gauff beat Swiatek on clay for the first time, getting past the four-time Roland Garros champion at the Madrid Open. Swiatek’s most recent win over Gauff came during the 2024 French Open.
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