United Cup upsets: Gauff and Zverev fall
World number four Coco Gauff suffered her first-ever defeat at the United Cup on Monday, falling to Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-1, 6-7 (3/7), 6-0 in a setback ahead of the Australian Open.
Gauff had previously won all six of her United Cup singles matches for the USA and held a 3-0 record in mixed doubles. The loss marked Bouzas Maneiro’s first victory over a top-five player, News.Az reports, citing AFP.
“I know Coco and she’s a fighter,” said the 42nd-ranked Bouzas Maneiro in Perth. “She’s there all the time in the match, so I knew that I had to be there, and even if I’m 4-1 up, I have to be there. And that was my mentality in the third set. To be with power every point because even if you are 3-0 or 4-0, you have to be ready.”
In Sydney, Germany’s world number three Alexander Zverev also faced a shock result, losing 6-3, 6-4 to Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz. Hurkacz had not competed since June due to knee surgery.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been competing. Seven months I’ve been going through difficult times with the team and it was very challenging,” Hurkacz said. “We went through a long period of time not competing and not knowing when we would be able to be back on court again. I was just trying to cherish and enjoy every moment here on the court today.”
The former world number six, now ranked 83rd, faced only one break point in his 83-minute victory. “I was serving quite well. I was finding nice spots, so that’s definitely a nice feeling to really have good rhythm on the serve,” Hurkacz said. “Just so pleased with the performance and just also so much fun to see the fans again.”
Poland’s Iga Swiatek will attempt to close out the tie against Germany’s Eva Lys.
The Australian Open is set to begin on January 18.
Similar news
