Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury picked up where they left off in 2022 as they opened the new season with a doubles win Tuesday at the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune.

Fresh off their maiden Nitto ATP Finals title in November, the American-British pairing defeated Sebastian Baez and Luis David Martinez 6-3, 7-6(1) to advance to the quarter-finals at the ATP 250. The top seeds will meet Ramkumar Ramanathan and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela next after the Indian-Mexican pair edged Rohan Bopanna and Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 11-9.

French third seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul also advanced via a Match Tie-break on Tuesday, scoring a 6-7(1), 7-5, 10-7 win against the Indian duo of Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni.

Italian Success In Adelaide
Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Sonego knocked off home favourites James Duckworth and Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-4 at the Adelaide International 1, with Sonego recovering to take the court after a second-set retirement in his matchup against Daniil Medvedev on Monday. Sinner earned two wins on Tuesday, beating Daniel Evans 6-3, 6-2 in singles play.

Also advancing in Adelaide were Maxime Cressy and Albano Olivetti, and Austrians Lucas Miedler and Alexander Erler.

The United Cup began six days ago in three cities across Australia, with 18 nations competing in six groups. Now, it’s down to just six teams. Wednesday’s City Finals in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane will each feature five matches — two women’s and men’s singles and one mixed doubles — spread across two sessions.

Four of the top five seeded teams made the cut and are joined by Great Britain and Croatia. The team matchups are: United States vs. Great Britain in Sydney; Italy vs. Poland in Brisbane; and Greece vs. Croatia in Perth.

The three winning nations and the losing team with the best United Cup record will advance to Friday’s semi-finals in Sydney.

Sydney, Ken Rosewall Arena
United States (2-0) vs. Great Britain (2-0)

Five singles players for these two teams bring perfect 2-0 records on the new season into the Sydney City Final.

Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Madison Keys went 6-0 to help the United States defeat the Czech Republic and Germany, while Cameron Norrie and Katie Swan combined for four wins, playing sensational tennis in dispatching Australia and Spain.

“It’s great to start the year off with some wins, for sure,” Fritz said. “I think just the confidence aspect of tennis is super important. Especially going to the Australian Open, coming off the offseason.”

Fritz, ranked No. 9 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, meets Norrie, who is only five spots behind. Their last match was won by Fritz last September at the Laver Cup in a 10-8 Match Tie-break.

Norrie, meanwhile, is coming off what he called the best win of his career, defeating Rafael Nadal in three sets: “Especially on ranking and beating a guy like Rafa as the competitor that he is,” Norrie said of the milestone win. “I know it’s his first match of the year, but it was a sick win. He absolutely chopped me the last five or four times I played him. Nice to get him once now.”

The United States singles players hold a collective head-to-head record of 11-7 against their British opponents. On paper, anyway, the Americans have a big advantage on the women’s side, with Jessica Pegula ranked No. 3 and Keys No. 11 — compared to Nos. 98 and 145 for Harriet Dart and Katie Swan.

Wednesday’s matchups:
Madison Keys (USA) vs. Katie Swan (GBR), 12:30 p.m. / Head-to-head: Keys, 1-0
Taylor Fritz (USA) vs. Cameron Norrie (GBR), to follow / Head-to-head: Fritz, 6-5
Jessica Pegula (USA) vs. Harriet Dart (GBR), 5:30 p.m. / Head-to-head: Pegula, 1-0
Frances Tiafoe (USA) vs. Daniel Evans (GBR), to follow / Head-to-head: Tiafoe, 3-2
Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz (USA) vs. Harriet Dart and Jonny O’Mara (GBR), to follow

Brisbane, Pat Rafter Arena
Italy (2-0) vs. Poland (2-0)

Not long after Hubert Hurkacz and Magda Linette scored singles victories against Stan Wawrinka and Jil Teichmann of Switzerland to send Poland into the City Final, Polish captain Agnieszka Radwanska was already looking ahead.

“I’m really looking forward to Hubi’s match against Berrettini,” she told reporters. “I think that’s going to be the best of tomorrow’s matches. We will see after all the matches, but I think that’s the one that I’m really waiting for.”

Earlier, Berrettini defeated World No. 3 Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 on the way to a 5-0 Italian victory against Norway. Wednesday he meets Hurkacz in a rematch of their 2021 Wimbledon semi-final, won by Berrettini in four sets.

There’s another Grand Slam rematch on the women’s side, too, as World No. 1 Iga Swiatek faces Martina Trevisan. Their 2020 quarter-final at Roland Garros was a big moment on the way to Swiatek’s first major singles title.

“I think in this format you can pretty much expect everything,” Radwanska said. “That’s sport, so anything can happen, especially when you have four singles matches and then the mixed doubles. So it’s always exciting until the end.”

Wednesday’s matchups:
Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) vs. Daniel Michalski (POL), 12:30 p.m. / Head-to-head: 0-0.
Martina Trevisan (ITA) vs. Iga Swiatek (POL), to follow / Head-to-head: Swiatek, 1-0
Matteo Berrettini (ITA) vs. Hubert Hurkacz (POL), 5:30 p.m. / Head-to-head: 1-1
Lucia Bronzetti (ITA) vs. Magda Linette (POL), to follow / Head-to-head: 0-0
Camila Rosatello and Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) vs. Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz (POL), to follow

Perth, RAC Arena
Greece (2-0) vs. Croatia (2-0)

Thanks to two wins from Maria Sakkari — in singles and mixed doubles with Stefanos Tsitsipas — Greece was the first team into this City Final.

Croatia, however, was locked in a nasty scuffle with France on Tuesday night. Down 2-0, Caroline Garcia narrowed the deficit and Adrian Mannarino nearly forced a mixed doubles decider. Serving for the match in the third set against Borna Gojo, Mannarino wavered and suddenly found himself in a tie-break. Gojo eventually converted his sixth match point and Croatia qualified.

Tsitsipas will face Borna Coric, who has beaten him three straight times, including twice last year, in Cincinnati and Vienna.

Sakkari and Petra Martic will square off for just the second time, their only previous meeting eight years ago in US Open qualifying, when Sakkari qualified for the first Grand Slam main draw of her career.

Wednesday’s matchups:
Despina Papamichail (GRE) vs. Donna Vekic (CRO), 12:30 p.m. / Head-to-head: 0-0
Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs. Borna Coric (CRO), to follow / Head-to-head: Coric, 3-1
Maria Sakkari (GRE) vs. Petra Martic (CRO), 5:30 p.m. / Head-to-head: Sakkari, 1-0
Michail Pervolarakis (GRE) vs. Borna Gojo (CRO), to follow / Head-to-head: 0-0
Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs. Donna Vekic and Borna Coric (CRO), to follow

Tim van Rijthoven became the third Dutchman into the second round of the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune on Tuesday, when he sealed a 6-4, 6-4 first-round victory against Radu Albot.

The No. 111-ranked Van Rijthoven clinched the only break of each set in his maiden tour-level meeting against Albot, wrapping up an 86-minute victory behind some big serving in India. The 25-year-old, who lifted his maiden ATP Tour title on grass in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last June, struck 14 aces and saved two break points to set a meeting with Aslan Karatsev. The eighth-seeded Karatsev was a 6-1, 6-3 winner against Pablo Andujar.

Van Rijthoven joins countrymen Tallon Griekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round in Pune. Van de Zandschulp is seeded second at the ATP 250 event, behind Marin Cilic.

Also on Tuesday, #NextGenATP Italian Flavio Cobolli notched his second tour-level win with a 6-4, 7-5 victory against home wild card Mukund Sasikumar. Cobolli will take on van de Zandschulp on centre court on Wednesday as he bids to reach the third round of an ATP Tour event for the first time.

Ramkumar Ramanathan was the last home hope in the singles draw in western India, but after taking the first set against Pedro Martinez, the 28-year-old qualifier was unable to complete the job. The World No. 62 Martinez pulled through for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory to set a second-round clash against fourth seed Sebastian Baez. That will be a repeat of the 2022 final in Santiago, where Martinez claimed his maiden ATP Tour crown.

Much of the discussion around Team Poland at the United Cup has centred around the the captain-player pairing of former WTA No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska and current World No. 1 Iga Swiatek. While Swiatek has delivered in Brisbane with a pair of singles wins, so too has teammate Hubert Hurkacz, who entered 2023 at No. 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Hurkacz, who defeated Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan and Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland to help his country to a 2-0 Group B record, also paired with Swiatek for a mixed doubles win against Kazakhstan. 

Asked about her top male player, Radwanska pointed out the 25-year-old’s professionalism as a standout trait.

“He’s very professional. He’s really focussed on the game,” she said after Poland’s 3-2 victory against Team Switzerland. “He’s doing everything off the court to play the best tennis. I admire him that at a really young age he became a model for all the young kids, how to do everything to play the best tennis: how to eat, how to stretch, how to practise, how to be focused all the time, to really prepare for the match 100 per cent.

“That’s something that you’re not going to see very often at a young age. He did that since I know him. When you’re a teenager, sometimes in your mind there are so many different things. He was always focussed on tennis. That’s why he’s here [in the Top 10], playing some of the best tennis in the world. It’s good to see him playing better and better tennis, and I really hope he can do even better than that.”

In terms of his on-court arsenal, Radwankska had more good things to say about the 6-foot-5 Pole: “He’s a great server, that’s for sure,” she said. “He can play all day long. He’s physically and mentally strong.”

But like any good captain, she still wants to see more from her charge — and she is confident Hurkacz will deliver.

“I think there is always something to improve, right?” she continued. “It’s the sport of tennis. You always work on something and you want to be better and play better. But he’s such a hard worker, so I think he’s going to have a lot of years on Tour. He’s really taking care of his body, as well, very well.

“I think we’re gonna see him for so long on the court. I really believe he can do everything.”