David Goffin earned his first win of the season Monday when he overcame fifth seed Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round at the ASB Classic in Auckland.

The 32-year-old went 0-2 at the inaugural United Cup last week in Perth but responded with a confidence-boosting performance against Bublik, returning with great depth to break the 25-year-old six times en route to his 74-minute win.

“I returned really well,” Goffin said. “We all know how he can serve, it is not easy to return. The key was the return for sure. I tried to stay calm because on my service games, I know how hard he can hit the ball and be aggressive. I stayed calm and that was the key.

“I love the atmosphere on this court, with people having fun. They are having dinner, it is a nice arena and it is fun to play in front of them.”

Goffin, who is making his first appearance at the ATP 250 event since 2013, now leads the Kazakhstani 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series. He will next face 2020 champion Ugo Humbert or American qualifier Christopher Eubanks.

Jenson Brooksby snapped a four-match losing streak when he defeated Italian Fabio Fognini 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-3. In an entertaining battle, the 22-year-old American raised his intensity and level in the third set, recovering from squandering a break advantage to advance after two hours and 16 minutes.

The World No. 48, who was competing for the first time this season, will next play third seed Diego Schwartzman.

In the first match of the day, Frenchman Constant Lestienne cruised past Argentine Pedro Cachin 6-3, 6-1 in 64 minutes. The World No. 65 will next play two-time Auckland champion John Isner or French qualifier Gregoire Barrere.

“I feel like I’m at home with my eight kids. This is like the Brady Bunch,” said Team USA captain David Witt as he sat alongside his triumphant players in their United Cup post-final media conference.

“I had a blast these two weeks. It was a lot of fun. A lot of tennis watching, but I had a blast. You guys are so immature, and I love you for it.”

Underpinned by a sense of camaraderie, a commitment to having fun and its overall team depth, the United States found the winning formula at the inaugural 18-country mixed teams’ event, showcasing a blueprint that others may look to emulate in future years.

The team’s Top 10 No. 1 players Taylor Fritz and Jessica Pegula dropped just one singles match each during the tournament. No. 2 players Frances Tiafoe and Madison Keys combined to win all 10 singles matches they played.

World No. 9 Fritz clinched Sunday’s final for Team USA with a tight 7-6(4), 7-6(6) win over Matteo Berrettini after also taking out Polish No. 1 Hubert Hurkacz in two tie-breaks in the semi-finals.

“It’s just so much more exciting, there’s so much more emotions,” Fritz said. “You can celebrate with your whole team as opposed to just celebrating by yourself. As soon as I won, I turned to the team and I knew everyone was going to run at me. It was great until Frances full speed head-butted me in the face.”

Pegula, who stunned Polish World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals and gave Team USA a lead-off 1-0 advantage in the final, said that the camaraderie within the team was instrumental in its success.

“We’ve had a really great, like eternity, in Sydney,” she said “It’s been really fun though. We have been bonding a lot, I feel like getting to know each other a lot.

“We did three escape rooms in one week. Literally everyone last night was [saying], ‘We need to do an escape room again to keep the team chemistry going. I did not think that was going to happen coming into this. Hey, here we are. It was fun.”

Matched by Greece (Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari) and Poland (Swiatek and Hurkacz) with Top 10 stars playing at No. 1, the United States had a clear edge in the No. 2 singles, where World No. 11 Keys and World No. 19 Tiafoe each won their five singles matches for the loss of just one set each.

Nobody enjoyed the mixed teams’ format more than Tiafoe, who said that he hopes to continue his practice sessions with Pegula in 2023. “You will see a lot of Pegula-Tiafoe practices from this point until whenever she wants to hang it up and I want to hang it up,” the Maryland native said. “She’s definitely risen my level to a whole other level. She’s unbelievable. Happy I got to hit with her, happy I got to see ‘Clinch Fritz’ and Madison Keys do their thing.

“It’s been a special week. Everybody behind me too. Yeah, it takes a village to do something special. It’s been a hell of a week.”

Novak Djokovic was down on Sunday evening in Adelaide and nearly out when he faced championship point against Sebastian Korda. But in trademark fashion the Serbian found a way to win his 92nd tour-level title.

Djokovic saved championship point at 5-6 in the second set before rallying past the American 6-7(8), 7-6(3), 6-4 after a gruelling three hours and nine minutes. After Korda missed a final forehand long, Djokovic tapped his right index finger to his head as a nod to his resilience.

“It’s been an amazing week and you guys made it even more special. For me to be standing here is a gift, definitely,” Djokovic told the crowd during the trophy ceremony. “I gave it all today and throughout the week in order to be able to get my hands on the trophy.

“The support that I’ve been getting in the past 10 days is something that I don’t think I’ve experienced too many times in my life, so thank you so much [to] everyone for coming out every single match.”

The 35-year-old is now tied with Rafael Nadal for the fourth-most men’s singles titles in the Open Era, trailing only Jimmy Connors (109), Roger Federer (103) and Ivan Lendl (94). He has won 34 consecutive matches in Australia since the start of 2019 and 23 of his past 24 matches overall.

Djokovic had treatment on his left leg during Saturday’s semi-final win against Daniil Medvedev in South Australia, but he moved well in an intense baseline exchange on the first point of the match that set the tone for an absorbing clash.

The former World No. 1 praised Korda’s clean ball-striking ahead of the match, and that proved deserved as the American played fearless baseline tennis to take the action to the Serbian. With Djokovic serving at 5-6, 30/40 in the second set, Korda needed just one more clutch strike to earn the biggest win of his career.

But Djokovic took the initiative in the point and finished it off by putting away a tricky overhead. From there, he surged through the tie-break and forced a decider.

Despite the disappointment of letting slip his opportunity, Korda continued to battle. The No. 33 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings saved two break points at 1-2 and slowed down Djokovic’s momentum. 

But at 5-4 in the third set with Korda serving, Djokovic pounced on his first chance to seal his victory. The top seed, who also lifted a trophy in Adelaide in 2007, won 85 per cent of his first-serve points in the match and converted two of his seven break points. He again praised his opponent after the match.

“Amazing tournament, amazing effort today. I’d probably say that you were closer to victory today than I was,” Djokovic said. “It was decided in one or two shots, one or two points. Tough luck today, but the future is bright for you, so just keep going, and you’re an amazing player. Well done.”