United Cup: Zverev, Siegemund Pilot Germany To Victory Over Brazil

Alexander Zverev, Laura Siegemund, Germany United Cup
Alexander Zverev, Laura Siegemund (photo: Tennis Australia)

PERTH/SYDNEY/WASHINGTON, December 29, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

World No. 2 Alexander Zverev clinched Germany’s first tie of this year’s United Cup – a 3-0 shutout victory over Brazil – with a strong performance against Thiago Monteiro, in which he won 6-4, 6-4, in just 77 minutes at RAC Arena in Perth Sunday afternoon.

Zverev’s triumph, which gave Germany an insurmountable 2-0 advantage, was punctuated by 11 aces and a 91-percent success rate on winning points on his first serve. His win was a walk in the park compared to teammate Laura Siegemund‘s 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 victory over World No. 17 Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first match of the day, which lasted two hours and 33 minutes. The 80th-ranked Siegemund outpointed Haddad Maia 92-88 in garnering her fourth win in five meetings against the Brazilian lefty.

“I’m very happy to be back playing for Team Germany again,” Zverev said during his on-court interview after winning his opening match of the 2025 season. “Perth is one of my favorite cities in Australia … and I’m enjoying my time on the court.

“I think this is the first time we’ve been up 2-0 in a tie. Last year we were playing a deciding match every single time so it’s nice to know that we’ve got this one in the bag already.”

After putting Germany ahead 1-0 with the 20th Top-20 win of her career, Siegemund said in her on-court interview: “It’s the first match of the year against such a great player, it’s not easy. So I have to, out of the pocket, pull my best game basically, and I just tried to focus on that and stay cool in the [big] moments.”

Later, during Team Germany’s news conference, Zverev added: “I felt exactly how I was expecting to feel. Maybe not the best tennis match from the baseline from me, but I had a very hard off-season, I was working extremely hard, so my body still needs time to adjust to a tennis court. I was working very physically, physically quite a lot, so yeah, I’m happy with the win.

“I’m also very proud of Laura winning two matches today. Great effort to give us a 3-0 win. I think it gives us a great chance of qualifying for the quarterfinals.”

Germany capped its 3-0 shutout as Siegemund teamed with Tim Puetz to defeat Carolina Alves and Rafael Matos, 7-6 (8), 6-4, in mixed doubles.

Next, Germany (1-0) will face China (1-0) in Perth Monday evening with first place in Group E and a quarterfinal berth on the line.

Paolini, Cobolli provide 1-2 punch in Italy’s victory over Switzerland

Italy’s 3-0 shutout victory over Switzerland at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney Sunday evening was highlighted by World No. 4 Jasmine Paolini‘s 6-1, 6-1 over Belinda Bencic. Paolini converted seven of 10 break points during her 58-minute victory over the former World No. 4, who recently returned to the WTA Tour after giving berth to her daughter earlier this year.

Paolini, who won the first eight points of the match with a powerful baseline attack, never looked back against Bencic. The Swiss was broken in all seven of her service games.

“I was really focused,” Paolini said during Team Italy’s post-match news conference. “I know that Belinda can play really, really well. I knew that … She’s back on tour from since two months, so it’s not easy you know, but I was really focused. I have so much respect for here and I think today I played really, really well. Not too many mistakes. I hope that this match is going to help me for the next one. … It’s a good match to have in the pocket, I think, as a first match of the year.”

Earlier, No. 32 Flavio Cobolli put the Italians ahead 1-0 with his 6-3, 7-6 (2) win over 300th-ranked Dominic Stricker, in which he outpointed his opponent 71-58.

“Of course, I think I played a really good match,” Cobolli said during his on-court interview. “It’s always a great thing to play with the flag of Italy on the heart, with some friends on the bench, with my dad on the bench.

Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori completed Italy’s sweep with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Bencic and Stricker.

Next, Italy (1-0) will face France (0-1) in Sydney on Tuesday.

U.S. pulls out 2-1 win over Canada

Top-seeded United States, led by World No. 3 and WTA Finals champion Coco Gauff and World No. 4 Taylor Fritz, was pushed to the limit by Canada before pulling out a 2-1 tie victory in Group A that was decided by mixed doubles Sunday night in Perth.

Gauff and Fritz defeated Canadians Leylah Fernandez and Felix Auger-Aliassime, 7-6 (2), 7-5, in an hour and 42 minutes – ending just before 1 a.m. Monday local time. The Americans combined to hit nine aces and won 83 percent of their first-serve points. They converted three of 11 break points and outpointed their opponents 79-61.

Earlier, Gauff defeated No. 31 Fernandez, 6-3, 6-2, in a hour and 36 minutes in their first career meeting to give the Americans a 1-0 lead. Showing great confidence and court coverage, Gauff saved both break points she faced, converted four of six opportunities and outpointed Fernandez 74-54.

“I’m super happy with how I played, and super happy to get a point on the board for my team,” Gauff, who was making her United Cup debut, said in her on-court interview. “I knew I was going to have to run a lot. Leylah can hit some crazy angles, so I was just trying my best to hit the best possible shot on them.”

However, the 29th-ranked Auger-Aliassime evened the tie a 1-1 with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win in two hours and 19 minutes, in which he broke Fritz twice in the 10th game of the middle set as the American was serving for the match at 5-4. He finished with 19 aces to 13 for Fritz and outpointed him 96-85.

“It was a crazy night of tennis so far, it’s not over,” Auger-Aliassime said on court after his win before return for mixed doubles.

“I started slow in my first service game but after that it was a really high level, from Taylor as well. It was just a matter of finding ways tactically, changing my positions on the return. I decided to step in closer and dictate from the first shot and it worked perfectly. From that point on the match turned in my favor.”

Next, the United States (1-0) faces Croatia (0-1) Tuesday evening in Perth.

Around the United Cup

Norway’s Casper Ruud, ranked World No. 6, is one of four Top-10 players competing at the United Cup, along with No. 2 Alexander Zverev, No. 4 Taylor Fritz and No. 9 Alex de Minaur. While Ruud owns a 5-1 record in the mixed teams event, after gutting out a 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-4 victory over No. 25 Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic that lasted nearly three hours – including 3-0 last year – he arrived in Sydney having finished the 2024 season 4-11 since reaching the fourth found at the US Open (including 2-2 at the Nitto ATP Finals).

Like most players, it’s been a short off season but a productive a good one, admits Ruud, who fired 12 aces and won 75 percent of his first-serve points against Machac. “Yeah, it’s been a short but sweet, I guess, offseason,” he said during Team Norway’s pre-tournament news conference on Saturday. “Some tough weeks of practice, and I played a few exhibition matches on the way down here. So a little bit mix of both.

“It’s always exciting to come down here. It’s a long travel, but weather is always nice, and people are nice. So, for the remaining of the year, I haven’t almost had time to think about, like, that many goals, but staying in the Top 10 is definitely one of them. Maybe trying to do a little bit better in the slams this year.”

During the 2024 majors, Ruud reached the third round of the Australian Open, was a semifinalist at Roland-Garros, lost in the second round at Wimbledon, and lost to Fritz in the round of 16 at the US Open.

“Last season was good in some ways, but, for example, here in Australia I felt like I could have done better, and Wimbledon especially also. A few maybe better and deeper runs in Grand Slams is one goal for this year,” said Ruud, who will be back in action for Team Norway against Poland in Sydney Monday night. Ruud will face World No. 16 Hubert Hurkacz.

“Yes, staying Top 10 and putting myself in position to do well at the biggest tournaments.”

Sunday’s United Cup results

Monday’s United Cup order of play

By the numbers

Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, who defeated Marlene Helgø of Norway, 6-2, 6-2 and later teamed with Tomas Machac to beat Ulrikke Eikeri and Viktor Durasovic 6-4, 6-4 in mixed doubles during her team’s 2-1 tie victory over the Norwegians, has won 15 of her last 18 matches in 2024 across the US Open, Beijing, Ningbo and the United Cup. She was a semifinalist at the US Open and Ningbo and a finalist at Beijing.

“Quotable …”

“I feel like I thrive in these situations. I had some really good wins, some of my best actually, here last year.

“I feel like starting the year this way, it speeds me into the year. It makes it a lot quicker for me. I just enjoy bouncing off other people’s energy. I feel like we’ve got a good team this year. Looking forward to seeing new faces and people that I’ve not really been in a team with before, so that’s going to be exciting.

“Yeah, I’m just happy to be back in Australia.”

– Katie Boulter of Great Britain, on representing her country and playing in a team atmosphere at the start of the season. Boulter will play her first match at the United Cup in Sydney on Monday against Nadia Podoroska of Argentina.

 

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