Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz both won their singles matches against the Czechs on Saturday to send Team USA into the United Cup final.
It’s the second time the Americans have reached the United Cup final, having won the team event in its inaugural year in 2023.
Gauff kicked things off by holding off Karolina Muchova, 6-1, 6-4.
Muchova’s one of the biggest upset artists on the women’s tour—she just beat No. 4-ranked Jasmine Paolini a few days ago, for instance—but she’s never solved Gauff’s game, now 0-4 in her career against the American, and 0-8 in sets. None of those sets went to a tie-break.
Things got a little dicey in the end as Gauff originally led by a set and a break, 6-1, 4-2, when Muchova got the break back to even the second set up at 4-all, but Gauff won two quick games to end it.
“It’s never easy playing Karolina,” the WTA No. 3 said afterwards in her on-court interview. “Kind of the whole match I was intense and focused, so I think that made the difference today.
“I’m happy to get my team off to a good start.”
