Coco Gauff laid down a marker ahead of the Australian Open by beating Iga Swiatek for the second time in a row as she put USA 1-0 up in the United Cup final against Poland.
Gauff followed her victory over Swiatek at the WTA Finals in Riyadh in November with a 6-4 6-4 win in Sydney on Sunday ahead of Taylor Fritz’s men’s match against Hubert Hurkacz.
The world No 3 said after seeing off the world No 2: “I have the belief that I’m one of the best players in the world and when I play good tennis I’m hard to beat.
Swiatek made 19 unforced errors in the opening set
Gauff sprinted into a 2-0 lead in the opening set, only to be pegged back by Swiatek and fall 3-2 behind, but she pounced on 19 unforced errors from the Pole to reel off four of the next five games.
Gauff double-faulted to lose serve in the second set but earned that break back at the end of a 10-minute game with a forehand pass to level the score at 4-4.
She then broke Swiatek again to win the match after her opponent took a medical timeout as she took her singles record in this year’s United Cup to 5-0, after previous victories over Leylah Fernandez, Donna Vekic, Zhang Shuai and Karolina Muchova.
The Australian Open begins on January 12 with Gauff and Swiatek looking to win it for the first time.
Their best results so far are reaching the semi-finals – Swiatek in 2022 before she lost to Danielle Collins and Gauff last year when she fell to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka geared up for her title defence by winning the Brisbane International, coming from a set down to beat world No 107 Polina Kudermetova 4-6 6-3 6-2
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