By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, January 3, 2026Photo credit: United Cup Facebook
Coco Gauff launched her 2026 season with a committed comeback.
World No. 3 Gauff crushed Solana Sierra 6-1, 6-1 in singles.
Then, Gauff partnered Christian Harrison to win the decisive mixed doubles over Maria Lourdes Carle and Guido Andreozzi 6-4, 6-1 and lift the United States to a 2-1 win over Argentina at the United Cup in Perth.
“I thought the synergy and the chemistry with Christian and Coco was excellent,” U.S. captain Michael Russell said. “First match playing together, and they brought a lot of energy.
“I think playing a decisive match, that’s super important. You could see on the big points they had some great reflexes and played aggressive. You know, it was really nice to see.”
Harrison, who prepared for his United Cup debut giving himself a haircut, said he didn’t feel the nerves playing alongside fellow Floridian Gauff.
“Honestly it was amazing. I mean, it’s fun to get in that just environment with a team of just people behind you on the bench and just get good support and then just enjoy a match,” Harrison said. “Honestly I wasn’t really thinking a whole lot because I just was having a good time. For me, I just told myself, this is why I still practice so hard just because I love playing.
“So I felt like mentally I was prepared to play. Then I have a great team of people that just made it easyto just play tennis.”
Sebastian Baez opened this tie upsetting Taylor Fritz 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 staking Argentina to a 1-0 lead.
It was Baez’s second singles wins in as many starts following his sweep of Spain’s Jaume Munar on Friday.
Defending-champion USA was down 0-1 when Gauff stepped up and delivered a convincing 57-minute victory.
It was Gauff’s sixth straight-sets United Cup victory.
“I’m really happy,” Gauff said. “It was a little bit of pressure. Last year, I was so used to starting first so I felt like it was a little bit harder.
“I’m really happy with how I played today and hopefully I can continue this into the next match.”
A red-hot Baez relied on his spins and speed around the court to defuse Fritz, who said “there was definitely a lot of rust showing” in his 2026 debut.
“I feel like he raised his level, especially in the third set, but also at times in the second set,” Fritz said of Baez. “I think the first set just from both of us wasn’t a super high level. You know,both of us making a lot of errors.
“Ultimately in the end in the first set I won it because I put balls in the court, and he made mistakes. He started mentally cutting down on the mistakes, being very steady, but also dictating and being able to attack.
“For me, the ball just felt like it was really flying on me. I didn’t feel like I had the control I wanted when I was trying to be offensive. I couldn’t really do the things I wanted out there. Then I just had a couple of games where I served very poorly. He played solid.”
Baez closed the victory with a dynamic effort on match point.
Facing a must-win match, Gauff burst out to 4-0 leads in both sets and controlled play from start to finish.
Quick off the mark, Gauff ran down a drop shot and shoveled a forehand winner into the corner. Drawing an errant forehand from Sierra, Gauff broke again for 4-0.
The world No. 3 cruised through a love hold to back up the break for a 5-0 lead after 23 minutes of play.
Serving for the set, Gauff opened the seventh game with successive double faults. Then she settled down, blocking a backhand volley for set point. Gauff drew an error to wrap a one-set lead after 30 minutes.
Leaning into her two-hander, Gauff hit seven backhand winners—six more than Sierra—in that opening set.
Gauff stamped her second straight love hold for a 2-0 second-set lead.
Continuing to control play on serve, Gauff threw down another love hold extending her lead to 4-0.
Though Sierra owns a heavy forehand, Gauff repelled that shot and forced the Argentinean to hit it on the run. Carving out a short-angled slice, Gauff elicited a running forehand error breaking for a 5-0 lead after 53 minutes.
The American No. 1’s lone mis-step came when she served for the match. Gauff dropped serve at love, but came right back to break again at 15, stealing a dominant 6-1, 6-1 sweep in just 58 minutes.
“It’s really exciting,” Gauff said. “I feel I can play even better too, which is more exciting. It’s always tough starting the first match of the season, especially someone like her who is a great talent and played yesterday. But I’m really happy with how I managed those emotions.”
After a brief break, Gauff returned to action with Harrison playing the deuce side in mixed doubles.
Showing fast hands at net, Gauff and Harrison blocked back a series of reflex volleys breaking Carle for a 2-1 lead.
Tested at deuce, Gauff slid a serve down the T setting up Harrison to swoop in for a smash consolidating the break for 3-1.
Gauff served for the opening set at 5-2, but Argentina broke back then reduced the gap to 4-5.
From love-30 down, Harrison zapped a series of first serves flashing an ace wide to seal the 37-minute opening set.
The Americans controlled play throughout the second set to seal the 2-1 team victory in 62 minutes.
