SYDNEY: The United States was crowned the champion of the first edition of the United Cup mixed team tennis event on Sunday after clinching three straight-set wins over Italy in the final.
The decisive men’s singles rubber between world No. 16 Matteo Berrettini of Italy and world No. 9 Taylor Fritz of the United States lasted two hours and 16 minutes, with both sets dragged into nerve-racking tie-breaks.
Leading 2-0 in their previous head-to-head series, the 25-year-old Fritz took his second championship point and elicited an unforced error from his Italian opponent in a rally, which sealed his 7-6(4), 7-6 (6) victory on the scoreboard and extended the advantage of the United States to an insurmountable 3-0.
“It’s great. It’s amazing for the team to win this event. We came in with really high hopes, or at least I did, for the event,” Fritz said in a post-game interview on court. “I was really happy to be in that position to clinch the match.”