Jessica Pegula faced current World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the first Semi Final of the United Cup. The US registered its 1-0 lead over Poland. The final tally stood at 6-2 and 6-2 for the 71 minutes game.
Pegula clinched the opportunity when Swiatek lost her 7 points in the Tennis match, out of which 5 were left out for forehand errors. She also had an initial momentum working for her. Both sets saw the US go for the win. While in the first set, Pegula won 15 out of 18 return points, the following set saw her lose only 5 points without facing a breaking point.
Swiatek turned out to be slower than usual; however, Pegula found the conditions to be fast, saying that it was one of the factors that gave the advantage. She had previously lost all three encounters in 2022. Iga Swiatek did come with confidence, but that worked little for her.
Beating Naomi Osaka in the second round of Rome 2021 was, until this moment, her best performance. Naomi was ranked second during that period. Pegula’s victory over Naomi is still remembered as one of her best works.
All those moments recapitulated themselves once the US bagged its 1-0 lead over Poland. Furthermore, what makes this win more amazing is that it is backed by the victory of Tiafoe over Zuk in the 1 hour & 20 minutes game. Zuk was named as a replacement for Daniel Michalski after the latter was diagnosed with an illness. A lot rode over Zuk’s shoulder. The ultimate tally of 6-3 and 6-3 went in favor of Tiafoe. Tiafoe has a strong record in the tournament. He has lost only one set and won all four matches. Break points did occur, but Tiafoe was able to save them five times.
Circling back to the US and Poland events, a victory of 4-1 over Great Britain gives the US a sense of achievement that they do not want to lose. Poland had a close call of 3-2 with Italy at Brisbane to take some of the best betting sites for tennis for a spin.
The US has also enjoyed a clean 5-0 victory over Germany, but Poland struggled with a 3-2 against Switzerland.
Sydney could see the US close the series with a 3-0 win, provided Fritz defeats Hurkacz. Assuming things go south at the Ken Rosewall Arena during the first game, the job will be left for Keys to be done through a victory over Linette. Pegula will then pair with Fritz to take on Swiatek for the second time, who will team up with Hurkacz for Doubles.
Day 9 will see Greece and Italy compete at the same location. Trevisan faces Sakkari, followed by a match between Musetti and Pervolarakis. Day 10 will give Berrettini and Bronzetti a chance to follow up against Tsitsipas and Papamichail, respectively. Greece and Italy Doubles will have Rosatello/Musetti face Sakkari/Tsitsipas.
