The schedule for the 2024 United Cup in Perth and Sydney has been released.

PERTH GROUP PLAY – RAC ARENA

PERTH QUARTER-FINALS

SYDNEY GROUP PLAY – KEN ROSEWALL ARENA

SYDNEY QUARTER-FINALS

SYDNEY SEMI-FINALS

SYDNEY FINAL

Note: Order of ATP/WTA matches will vary. Mixed doubles will always be the third match. Players subject to change.

View Groups At Official Website

Sporting Rivals To Clash On Day 1 Of United Cup

Australia will play Great Britain on the opening day of the 2024 United Cup, the innovative mixed team event beginning 29 December at RAC Arena in Perth.

World No.13 Alex de Minaur will line up alongside Ajla Tomljanovic, John Millman, Storm Hunter, Matt Ebden and Ellen Perez when they face the British team led by Cameron Norrie and Katie Boulter.

The group stage will begin in Sydney on Saturday 30 December.

Each tie will comprise one men’s singles and one women’s singles match followed by one mixed doubles match.

Singles matches are best of three tiebreak sets. Mixed doubles matches are two tiebreak sets with a deciding match tiebreak (10 point) at one set-all.

In Perth, the day session will start at 10.00am and 5.00pm local time for the night session.

In Sydney, the day session will begin at 10.30am and 5.30pm for the second session.

Tickets to the group stage and quarterfinals go on sale 5.00pm local time today, Wednesday 25 October via UnitedCup.com/tickets.

Adult prices start from $40 and from $20 for children 3-12 years of age. Family passes (two adults and two children) start from $100.

Perth
Top seeds Poland featuring world No.2 Iga Swiatek and [11] Hubert Hurkacz will make their debut in Perth against a yet-to-be confirmed team on Saturday 30 December.

World No.1 Novak Djokovic and Team Serbia will take to the court on New Year’s Eve against China’s [18] Qinwen Zheng and Zhizhen Zhang.

Sydney
At Ken Rosewall Arena, [8] Casper Ruud’s Team Norway will face the Netherlands on Saturday 30 December followed by Team Germany – led by Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev – against Italy at night.

Canada, featuring Felix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernandez, will make their United Cup debut on Sunday 31 December.

No.2 seeds Greece with [7] Stefanos Tsitsipas and [9] Maria Sakkari will play their first tie in Sydney on Tuesday 2 January.

Showcasing equality at the highest level of the sport, the United Cup will feature 18 countries competing across Perth and Sydney from Friday 29 December to Sunday 7 January 2024.

An ATP-WTA event presented in partnership with Tennis Australia, the United Cup offers a minimum AUD $15 million in prize money and 500 Pepperstone ATP and 500 WTA Tour rankings points.

Each city will host three groups of three countries, competing in a round-robin format.

Group winners in each city advance to the quarterfinals, with one quarterfinal spot in each city awarded to the best runner-up in that city.

In Perth, the quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday 3 January and in Sydney, the quarterfinals will be played across Thursday 4 and Friday 5 January.

Winners will progress to the semifinals and finals at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 January.

Teams travelling from Perth to Sydney will have a travel day and rest day before their semifinal.

The final two remaining countries (one WTA and one ATP) will be admitted to the competition on Monday 20 November, based on the rankings published on this date.

One year ago, Ben Shelton was No. 158 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and competing in a stretch of ATP Challenger Tour events. At the time, the American had earned just three tour-level wins and was embarking on his life as a professional tennis player.

Little did the lefty know that one year later, he would be No. 15 in the world and competing with the biggest stars on the ATP Tour every week.

“I think that’s the craziest thing to think about, how far I’ve come,” Shelton told ATPTour.com. “But it’s interesting that a lot of guys who where in a similar position to me last year, like Chris Eubanks or Aleks Vukic, have kind of had the same trajectory.

“They’re Top 50 now, so to be playing Challengers with all those guys last year and now we are at the point where we are playing a full ATP schedule, it’s something really cool that we share.” 

Shelton is 26-22 this season and has consistently risen to the occasion on the biggest stages. He reached the semi-finals of the US Open, the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and last week at the ATP 500 in Tokyo claimed his first tour-level title.

Two years ago Shelton was outside the world’s Top 700, a year ago he had not yet cracked the Top 150, and now he is charging towards the Top 10.

“It’s definitely not sunk in yet,” Shelton told ATPTour.com. “I think that when my season is over, I’ll have some time to think about everything that’s happened this year and kind of reflect on it. I’m just really enjoying the moment right now.” 

Entering the end of the season, there was potential pressure for Shelton with the 240 points he earned in a three-week span last year, when he triumphed at Challengers in Charlottesville, Knoxville and Champaign. But by claiming 500 points in a single week in Tokyo, Shelton has put those worries behind him.

The American has made the biggest climb over the past 12 months of any player in the Top 20, ascending 143 spots. The only player who is close to him is World No. 20 Nicolas Jarry, who was No. 116 one year ago this week.

Shelton will try to continue his rise this week at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, where he will play second seed Jannik Sinner in the first round.

Stefanos Tsitsipas spoiled the party for the local fans Tuesday at the Erste Bank Open by delivering a rock-solid opening-round display to down home favourite Dominic Thiem.

The fourth-seeded Greek prevailed 7-6(5), 6-4 after saving all three break points he faced at the ATP 500 in Vienna. Tsitsipas clinched a first set of narrow margins by rallying from 2/4 in the tie-break before a decisive break in the third game of the second set proved enough for him to book a second-round clash with Tomas Machac.

“He made it difficult, as always. Every single match that we have played this year has been on the edge, and it wouldn’t be any different this time,” said Tsitsipas. “I really had to come up with some good shots towards the end and there were some extraordinary rallies that were being played during the course of the match.

“It was very physical and I had to stay very composed. Especially in the second set, he really stepped up his game, but I didn’t give him that break that he was looking for.”

With his one-hour, 59-minute win, Tsitsipas strengthened his bid to secure a spot at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals. The 25-year-old is currently sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, having amassed a 46-20 record in 2023.

Tsitsipas and Thiem’s two previous Lexus Head2Head meetings this season had both been settled in deciding-set tie-breaks. Tuesday’s clash in Vienna initially looked like being an equally tight affair, as the two players lit up the Wiener Stadthalle with a series of blistering baseline exchanges. Tsitsipas’ ability to find big serves when he needed ultimately proved crucial, however, especially when he fended off three break points to hold for 1-1 in the second set.

Now 6-5 ahead in his Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry with Thiem, Tsitsipas has not lost in the opening round of an indoor event dating back to the 2021 Rolex Paris Masters. The Greek has struggled for his best level of late but could identify Tuesday’s win as a turning point as he chases his second tour-level title of the season in the Austrian capital.

Qualifier Machac earlier overcame Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 6-1 to improve to 7-7 at tour-level for the season. The Czech is now up 11 spots to No. 63 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, setting him up for a new career-high in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings next Monday.

In the final match of the day in Vienna, Grigor Dimitrov improved to 20-2 for opening rounds this season by defeating Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-4. Dimitrov, a semi-finalist in the Austrian capital a year ago, won 80 per cent (33/41) of points behind his first serve en route to an impressive 94-minute win.

The Bulgarian is now 36-19 for 2023, a year in which he has consistently forged deep runs at ATP Tour events, including a championship-match run in Geneva. His next test this week will be a clash against Daniil Medvedev or #NextGenATP Arthur Fils. It was Medvedev who downed Dimitrov in the last four in Vienna a year ago.

Can one win change the course of a season?

Holger Rune will be hoping that is the case after he earned just his second victory in nine matches on Tuesday to reach the second round at the Swiss Indoors Basel, boosting his Nitto ATP Finals qualification chances.

The Dane battled hard to claw past Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 at the ATP 500 event in Switzerland, where he rallied from a set and a break down to triumph after two hours and two minutes. Rune trailed 3-4 in the second set but broke back before sealing the set on his third set point. He did not face a break point in the third set, striking 12 winners in the decider.

The Great Dane completes the great escape 🇩🇰

The 2022 runner-up @holgerrune2003 comes back from a set and a break down in the third set 🆚️ Kecmanovic 1-6 7-5 6-3 #SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/Pg0bscwdfI

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 24, 2023

With his victory, he set a second-round meeting against Sebastian Baez, while he also increased his Nitto ATP Finals qualification chances. The 20-year-old is eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 90 points ahead of ninth-placed Taylor Fritz. Aiming to make his debut at the prestigious year-end event, Rune is currently occupying the final qualification position.

“I am happy I kept fighting and turned the match around,” Rune said. “I tried to raise my level. I always enjoy playing here.”

The top seed enjoyed a strong first half of the season. He lifted the trophy in Munich, reached the final in Rome and the quarter-finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. However, he has struggled to find any form since Wimbledon in July, arriving in Basel having lost seven of his past eight matches.

Rune would not be deterred against Kecmanovic though, earning his 39th tour-level win of the season, equalling his previous best mark (2022).

In the final match of the day on centre court, Alexander Shevchenko ousted home hero Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 7-6(8). The qualifier was clutch on the most critical points, saving three of the four break points he faced while converting three of his five opportunities.

Shevchenko lost a set in the first round of qualifying against Fabio Fognini, but has won five consecutive sets to reach the second round of the main draw.

“It ranks unbelievable, especially to beat Stan in Basel,” Shevchenko said of his victory. “When I was having a family dinner [as a kid], Stan was playing the Australian Open final and I remember how he played. And to beat him in Basel is something that I dreamed of, maybe.”

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek bounced back from a disappointing first-round exit in Shanghai on Tuesday when they beat Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sebastian Korda 6-2, 6-4 at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

The top seeds are chasing their sixth tour-level title as a team this week and will next play Tallon Griekspoor and Robin Haase or Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski. Dodig and Krajicek will compete at the Nitto ATP Finals in November after qualifying earlier this month.

Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni are currently fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings and are looking to join Dodig and Krajicek in Turin. They suffered a first-round loss in Basel, falling to Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz. The Germans advanced 6-2, 5-7, 10-5 in one hour and 38 minutes.

Ofner/Oswald Save 2 MPs, Advance In Vienna
Austrians Sebastian Ofner and Philipp Oswald defeated defending champions Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 7-6(4), 4-6, 11-9 in the first round at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. Ofner and Oswald saved two match points, eventually advancing after one hour and 47 minutes.

Cameron Norrie and Tommy Paul also reached the second round at the ATP 500, beating Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-3, 6-0.

After a standout collegiate career, Cypriot Menelaos Efstathiou will now try his hand at the pro level.

The 24-year-old is set to compete in his first ATP Challenger Tour event this week at the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena in Ortisei, Italy. Efstathiou graduated this year from Wake Forest University, where he became just the second player from his school to earn Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year honours, joining Noah Rubin.

After finishing seventh in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings, Efstathiou will receive up to eight spots at select ATP Challenger Tour events in the next year, including in Ortisei, thanks to the ATP/ITA Accelerator Programme. The goal of the programme is to become a launching pad for the top players within the American collegiate system and accelerate their journey to the pro level.

The college route is one that Efstathiou will forever cherish.

“College tennis is amazing. I improved my game overall, but I would say more, I became more mature over the last five years,” Efstathiou told ATPTour.com earlier this year. “The level is very high so you always compete with good players, it definitely helped me improve my maturity and raise my level.”

How does a native of Limassol, Cyprus make the move to Winston-Salem, North Carolina? In large part because of his countryman Petros Chrysochos paving the pathway. Chrysochos, 27, won the 2018 NCAA singles title at Wake Forest and was a senior when Efstathiou started his college career.

“We’re good friends, we’re from the same academy. He put me in contact with the coaches and all that so it was kind of easy for me to choose Wake because of him,” Efstathiou said. “He was doing so well and he was telling me how good the program is. It was a pretty easy decision for me.”

Under the tutelage of head coach Tony Bresky, Wake Forest has produced a list of high-level players, including current World No. 77 Borna Gojo. The three-time ITA All-American Gojo was part of the Demon Deacons squad to capture the 2018 NCAA National Championship, the first in program history. The Croatian later turned pro in 2020 following three years at Wake Forest and is serving as an inspiration to Demon Deacons such as Efstathiou.

“We were on the team together,” Efstathiou said. “You could see how he was doing so well in college and still was very competitive. That kind of translates into playing well on the ATP Tour and he’s doing well, so it’s an inspiration for me as well to go and see what I can do.”

Before Efstathiou arrived at Wake Forest, he was already familiar with playing in a team atmosphere. At age 17, he made his Davis Cup debut against Türkiye. Several months later, he would return to the squad against Tunisia alongside former World No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis.

“With Baghdatis, we’re from the same city in Cyprus, we sometimes used to practise together,” Efstathiou said. “When I started my first [Davis Cup], he was there. We have pretty good contact with each other. Whenever we practise together, he gives me good tips here and there. It’s for sure beneficial towards me.”

Following the Ortisei Challenger, Efstathiou will use another Accelerator spot at the Bergamo Challenger, where he is among the qualifying field.

Hubert Hurkacz recorded his 40th tour-level win of the season on Tuesday when he moved past Serbian Dusan Lajovic 7-6(2), 6-3 to reach the second round on his debut at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

The 26-year-old fired 18 aces, won 80 per cent (41/51) of his first-serve points and broke Lajovic’s serve three times to become the first Polish man to earn 40 tour-level wins in consecutive years since Wojtek Fibak in 1981-82.

With his victory, Hurkacz has boosted his Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes. The Pole is currently 11th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 300 points behind Holger Rune, who occupies the final qualification spot in eighth.

Earlier this month Hurkacz moved himself into qualification contention for the prestigious year-end event when he won his second ATP Masters 1000 crown in Shanghai, gaining 1,000 points.

Aiming to close the gap to those above him this week at the ATP 500 event in Basel, Hurkacz will next play German Jan-Lennard Struff.

A touch of brilliance at the net: Part 2️⃣

Guess that’s one way to save a break point @HubertHurkacz 🤷‍♂️#SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/CiFb1SsyFi

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 24, 2023

Alex de Minaur is also aiming to compete at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 12-19th November. The Australian increased his slim chances with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Diego Schwartzman to improve to 3-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

De Minaur, who also defeated Schwartzman in Tokyo last week, is 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 190 points behind 11th-placed Hurkacz. The 24-year-old could rise to 10th this week if he wins his second title of the season and his direct rivals fall early.

De Minaur next plays Tallon Griekspoor after the Dutchman beat Brazilian lucky loser Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3.

Earlier, #NextGenATP Swiss Dominic Stricker maintained his impressive form on home soil when he defeated qualifier Benjamin Hassan 7-6(2), 6-2.

The 21-year-old owns a 5-1 record in first-round tour-level matches in Switzerland, having defeated Maxime Cressy in his opening match at the ATP 500 last year. He will next meet second seed Casper Ruud or Antwerp champion Alexander Bublik.

Stricker, who advanced to the fourth round at the US Open, is up one place to seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah. The lefty is trying to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals for the second consecutive year, after reaching the semi-finals in 2022.

Nobody has won more ATP Challenger Tour titles this season than Mariano Navone. The Argentine claimed his fifth title of the year at that level this past weekend when he captured the AAT Challenger Santa Fe 2 on home soil.

The 22-year-old, who is one of four Challenger champions this past week, defeated Italian Andrea Pellegrino 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the final. Now at a career-high No. 127 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Navone has won 15 of his past 16 matches on the ATP Challenger Tour, including two consecutive titles after winning in Buenos Aires the week prior to Santa Fe.

“In May of last year I was losing in the first round of an M15 and today I have won five Challengers,” Navone said in Spanish. “To that kid I would tell him to be calm, that good things are going to come. At that moment it was difficult, but now we have to continue, finish the [season] as high as possible.”

Navone is the sixth player with at least five Challenger titles in a season this past decade, joining Facundo Bagnis, Filip Krajinovic, Tallon Griekspoor, Sebastian Baez and Benjamin Bonzi. Navone is the fifth Argentine in ATP Challenger Tour history (since 1978) to collect five Challenger titles in a season.

In other action, Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet claimed his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title at the Olbia Challenger in Italy. The 22-year-old won seven matches in eight days as he advanced through qualifying en route to being crowned champion. Jacquet downed #NextGenATP star Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

“It feels amazing. It was a tough week. I’m really happy about this win because now I’m in [good position for] Australian Open qualifying,” Jacquet said. “It was a long, hard week. Emotionally it was really tough. It was hard from the beginning to the end, but I never gave up and now I have the title.”

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Players from France have combined for a record-breaking 26 ATP Challenger Tour trophies this year, with the Lyon-native Jacquet becoming the 18th different champion from his country this season.

Following his triumph, Jacquet soared 101 spots to a career-high No. 201 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Cobolli, who won the Lisbon Challenger earlier this month, cracked the Top 100 for the first time Monday following his finalist finish in Olbia. The 21-year-old is also eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Race to Jeddah as he aims for his maiden qualification into the Next Gen ATP Finals.

Australian James Duckworth collected his first ATP Challenger Tour since 2021 by winning the Shenzhen Luohu Challenger, where he cruised past 19-year-old Chak Lam Coleman Wong 6-0, 6-1 in the final. Despite falling short in three Challenger finals in 2023, the 31-year-old Duckworth produced a high level to capture his 13th ATP Challenger Tour crown.

“Really happy to get through and get the win this week,” Duckworth said. “I had a couple of losses in finals this year that were pretty tough and I’m happy to win this one. I thought I played really well the last three matches. I was really focussed and locked in.”

James Duckworth wins the Challenger 75 event in Shenzhen, China.” />
^{James Duckworth wins the Challenger 75 event in Shenzhen, China. Credit: Shenzhen Louhu Challenger}
Illya Marchenko won his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the season at the Hamburg Ladies & Gents Cup in Germany. The 36-year-old Ukrainian overcame Austrian Dennis Novak 6-2, 6-3 in the final to earn his 10th career title at the Challenger level.

“I played really well today,” Merchenko said. “It was an almost perfect match, certainly my best of the week. He had a few chances on my serve in the first set, but I served strongly and played good rallies. Overall, I’m very happy with my game.

“This is the first year I’ve been able to win two singles titles in the same season. At 36 years old it’s honestly quite surprising, but it feels great.”

Illya Marchenko wins the Challenger 50 event in Hamburg, Germany.” />
^{Illya Marchenko wins the Challenger 50 event in Hamburg, Germany. Credit: Witters}

Andrey Rublev rode out a topsy-turvy start to secure a first-round win Tuesday at the Erste Bank Open.

The third seed defeated Alexei Popyrin 7-6(5), 6-4 in Vienna to improve to 10-4 at the ATP 500 event. Rublev led 2-0 and 4-2 in the opening set but he still had to rally from a break down at 4-5 to force a tie-break, which Popyrin at one point led 5/2. The World No. 5 reeled off five straight points to claim the first set, however, before holding firm in the second for a 97-minute triumph.

“I don’t know [how I won the first set],” said Rublev. “I was super lucky, it was my mistake. I was 4-2 up, I had an easy ball and I played it where he was and he passed me. From that moment the match started to change and he was 5-4 up with a break. Somehow I was able to stay there and I was able to turn it around.”

Rublev finished the match having converted four of seven break points he earned. The 26-year-old is a five-time ATP 500 titlist, a tally which includes a title run in Vienna in 2020.

Rublev up and running 💪

2020 champion @AndreyRublev97 gets the better of Popyrin 7-6(5), 6-4@ErsteBankOpen | #erstebankopen pic.twitter.com/O3va2KuTNM

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 24, 2023

Following his win against Popyrin, Rublev is now just one win away from confirming his place at the Nitto ATP Finals. Currently fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, Rublev will seal his spot for the fourth consecutive year at the prestigious season finale by beating Matteo Arnaldi to reach the quarter-finals in Vienna.

“Every match you feel you are one step closer,” said Rublev of his Turin prospects. “Every win, every day. The door is open and I see what is inside, but I am not inside the room yet.”

Following his win against Popyrin, Rublev is now just one win away from confirming his place at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals. Currently fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, Rublev will seal his spot by beating Matteo Arnaldi to reach the quarter-finals in Vienna.

Seventh seed Frances Tiafoe also advanced after Daniel Evans retired from their first-round clash. Evans had led the American 4-1 in the pair’s third Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting of the season when he aggravated his right calve muscle springing forward to a short ball from the baseline.

Tiafoe will take on Stockholm champion Gael Monfils or Daniel Altmaier next as he looks to keep his outside Nitto ATP Finals chances alive.

Another American Turin hopeful, Tommy Paul, eased to a 6-3, 6-1 triumph against qualifier Alexandre Muller. Paul, who is 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, will play Aslan Karatsev or Borna Gojo next.