Gauff, who was named MVP after an undefeated week, had lost 11 of her first 12 matches against Swiatek, but after adding coach Matt Daly to her team after last year’s US Open, has now beaten her nemesis twice in a row after defateing her on the way to winning the WTA Finals last fall.
She got the upper hand in Sydney against Swiatek over a physical one hour and 52 minutes, a match which saw her win four of the last five games of the opening set, and come from a break down in the second set. Swiatek made 19 unforced errors in the opening set to Gauff’s nine, and also took a medical timeout before serving to stay in the match.
“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,” Gauff said. “Today I think I played some great tennis. I’m glad I was able to get a point for Team USA. It was tough today, I’m not gonna lie.”
Gauff finished her United Cup debut with a 7-0 overall recod, scoring additional wins over Leylah Fernandez, Donna Vekic, Zhang Shuai and Karolina Muchova without the loss of a set. She partnered Fritz to two wins in mixed doubles as well.
