Gauff drags US into United Cup semis as Swiatek also wins; Medvedev extends strong start ahead of Australian Open

Coco Gauff pulled off double duty to drag defending champions the United States into the United Cup semi-finals on Wednesday while world number two Iga Swiatek did her bit for Poland.

Fourth-ranked Gauff, who suffered a surprise defeat last time out, put the United States on their way in their quarter-final against Greece with a 6-3, 6-2 win over former world number three Maria Sakkari in Perth.

Stefanos Tsitsipas brought Greece level by defeating struggling Taylor Fritz 6-4, 7-5.

In the deciding mixed doubles, Gauff teamed up with Christian Harrison to battle past Tsitsipas and Sakkari 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.

The 21-year-old Gauff struggled with her serve as she suffered her first-ever defeat at the United Cup on Monday when she was stunned by Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

“Definitely a much better match today,” Gauff said after making light work of Sakkari.

“Last match, I just tried to erase it. That’s the beauty of this tournament.

“So definitely happy to give my team the lead today.”

Six-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek beat 97th-ranked Suzan Lamens 6-3, 6-2 in the tie against the Netherlands in Sydney.

Hubert Hurkacz, on his way back after being out for seven months following knee surgery, defeated Tallon Griekspoor 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) as Poland sealed their last-eight spot.

Poland will play hosts Australia, with the winner facing the United States for a place in Sunday’s final.

In Perth, Switzerland’a Belinda Bencic beat Solana Sierra 6-2, 6-2 but a 7-5, 6-4 loss by Stan Wawrinka to Sebastian Baez sent the tie into a mixed doubles decider.

The Swiss finished off the win with Bencic and Jakub Paul clinching the winning point over Maria Lourdes Carle and Guido Andreozzi 6-3, 6-3.

The mixed-team United Cup features 18 teams and serves as a build-up towards the Australian Open, which starts on January 18.

Former world number one Daniil Medvedev extended his impressive start to the season ahead of the Australian Open with a straight-sets win over Frances Tiafoe in Brisbane on Wednesday. The top seed took just an hour to defeat the American 6-3, 6-2 following his equally ruthless first-round win over Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics on Monday.

Medvedev served superbly against Tiafoe and didn’t face a break point in reaching the third round.

The 29-year-old Russian has conceded that the world’s top two, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, are out of reach of the other players on the men’s tour.

But he also said that anything could happen at a Grand Slam and he has shown in the first two rounds in Brisbane that he will be one of the challengers when the Australian Open starts on January 18.

“I’m really happy with the way I played the two matches,” said Medvedev, a three-time beaten finalist at the Melbourne major.

“It’s kind of continuing what I started doing at the end of the last year, already playing better and better.

“But these two matches (this week) I think were even better and I’m happy that some things I worked on in the pre-season seemed to work here.”

Defending champion Jiri Lehecka was forced to retire from his match against Sebastian Korda of the United States.

Korda won the first set and they were on serve in the second when Lehecka pulled out with an ankle injury. In the women’s draw, second seed and world number three Amanda Anisimova had a straightforward win over Australia’s Kimberly Birrell, 6-1, 6-3.

Rising Russian star Mirra Andreeva, 18, had a tougher fight before seeing off Australian qualifier Olivia Gadecki 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Emma Raducanu said it was an alien feeling to be back on court after more than two months away and that her three-set battle with Maria Sakkari at the United Cup on Tuesday ‍had given ‌her confidence she can safely increase her workload in practice.

The 2021 ‍U.S. Open champion had withdrawn from her scheduled match with Naomi Osaka at the mixed-team event on Sunday due to the foot injury ‍sustained late last year but was able to face Greece’s Sakkari ‍in Perth.

The 23-year-old lost 6-3 3-6 6-1 as Britain exited the competition, but Raducanu saw positives in her return to the game.

Agencies