Taylor Fritz defeated Hubert Hurkacz in a battle of the top-10’s to send team USA into the final of the inaugural United Cup over Poland.
Needing just a win after Jessica Pegula and Francis Tiafoe won their matches the previous day, Fritz pulled off a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) win at Ken Roswell Arena to give the Americans an unassailable 3-0 lead in the city finals.
The pair, who had not played against each other since 2019, held serves with ease at the beginning but as the opening set progressed, the games became tighter.
Fritz made the first inroads by pushing his Polish rival to deuce on his service game at 4-all but was then also forced to save two set points on his own delivery in the very next game. The deciding tiebreaker was another close affair with the American just managing to eke through after a lengthy rally to take a one-set lead.
The second set was a similar matter with little to separate the two players. Neither was able to break their rival’s serve once again but Hurkacz erred at crucial moments of the game, making three forehand mistakes in succession to drop a tiebreaker he was leading 5-4.
Despite Taylor Fritz sealing the United Cup tie for the USA after his win over Hurkacz, Madison Keys and Magda Linette took the court for a dead rubber with the American winning 6-4,6-2.
The USA now awaits the winner of Greece vs Italy in the Final which the Italians are leading 2-0.
