Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz propelled the U.S. into the semifinals of the United Cup mixed teams tennis event in Australia on Wednesday.
Gauff set the pace with a hard-fought 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Zhang Shuai in Perth. Fritz secured the victory by defeating Zhang Zhizhen 6-4, 6-4 in a closely contested match.
Reflecting on her performance, World No. 3 Gauff praised Shuai’s impressive play, noting, “The harder I hit, the harder she was hitting,” as reported by the Associated Press.
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“I felt like I couldn´t get her on defense. She was playing so aggressive on me and I felt like I had to go more on my second serves, which brought in more double faults. But if I just put it in it was a return winner so I had to take my chances.”
The No. 4-ranked Fritz said his aim was not to disappoint Gauff.
“There was a little bit of pressure because I didn’t want to be the one who loses it for the team after Coco won all her matches this week,” he said.
The Americans “completed a 3-0 sweep when Desirae Krawczyk and Robert Galloway beat Zhang and Sun Fajing 6-3, 6-7 (1), 10-3 in the mixed doubles,” the Associated Press added. The U.S. will now meet either Italy or Czech Republic, who play their quarterfinal on Friday.
Kazakhstan also advanced to the semifinals of the United Cup with a 2-1 win over Germany, who were without injured world No. 2 Alexander Zverev.
All remaining tournament play will take place in Sydney from Thursday through Sunday’s final.
