Harriet Dart defeated Maddison Inglis 6-4, 6-4 to seal a win for Great Britain over Australia at the United Cup. Team GB will move to the top of Group D and prepare to face Spain next.

Great Britain came into Day 2 with a 2-0 lead over the host nation after Cameron Norrie and Katie Swan posted straight-set wins on Day 1. Ranked No. 98 and playing in the No. 1 position for Great Britain, Dart seized her chance to clinch the tie by winning the coveted third point to build an unassailable 3-0 lead.

“Maddy played really great tennis today and I had to work for it,” Dart said. “First match of the year, I was really nervous, but the crowd were great.”

World No. 180 Inglis was a late substitution in singles after Australian No.1 Ajla Tomljanovic withdrew from the match due to a left knee injury. With Captain Sam Stosur urging her on, the 24-year-old from Perth acquitted herself well and, after a slow start, consistently challenged Dart from the baseline.

But Dart held her ground with clutch serving and a devastating day on her forehand. The 26-year-old Brit won 83% of her first serve points and was broken just once in the match. On her first match point, Dart fired her fifth ace of the match to take it after 92 minutes.

_{^{Frances Tiafoe celebrates winning first set in Sydney on Friday.}}

_{^{Frances Tiafoe and Tomas Machac ahead of their United Cup match.}}

_{^{Petra Kvitova in action on Friday.}}

_{^{Petra Kvitova celebrates her victory in Sydney.}}

_{^{Matteo Berrettini competes for Team Italy on Friday in Brisbane.}}

_{^{Maria Sakkari secures victory for Team Greece in Perth. Photo Credit: Getty Images}}

^{_{Grigor Dimitrov supports Dimitar Kuzmanov from the Team Bulgaria player box on Friday in Perth.}}

_{^{Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas share a joke during their mixed-doubles victory on Friday afternoon in Perth.}}

_{^{Jason Kubler celebrates victory against Daniel Evans.}}

Photo Credit: TENNIS AUSTRALIA

Team Greece have sealed the first victory of Group A at the United Cup in Perth after Maria Sakkari defeated Viktoriya Tomova 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 27 minutes, giving her team an unassailable 3-0 lead over Team Bulgaria.

WTA No.6 Sakkari had lost to Tomova in their first meeting, over six years ago in the 2016 Szeged ITF W50 final. But she had gained revenge in the second round of Wimbledon 2022, and once again showed how far she has come in establishing herself as a solid Top 10 player.

The first half of the opening set was tightly contested, with Tomova’s defensive skills and changes of pace drawing Sakkari into a number of extended exchanges. Indeed, it was the WTA No.90 who captured the first break, going up 2-1 as Sakkari leaked a double fault and errors on the forehand and at net.

But Sakkari responded with an immediate break back thanks to aggressive returning, and the pair remained neck-and-neck until the seventh game. After Sakkari had held for 4-3, Tomova required a medical timeout and returned with her lower left leg strapped.

On resumption, the Bulgarian’s attempts to shorten the points were a contrast to her earlier successful tactics and did not pay off. Sakkari broke for 5-3 by quickly tracking down a Tomova dropshot, and then converted her first set point with a forehand winner.

It was the second time in as many days that Team Bulgaria had been afflicted by injury. Like compatriot Isabella Shinikova on Day 1, Tomova continued to compete valiantly — but through the second set, she was unable to disrupt Sakkari’s fine rhythm on serve. The Greek player only conceded three points behind her delivery in the second set and broke the Tomova serve twice as she sped to victory.

Former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem was awarded a main draw wild card into the Australian Open, the tournament announced Friday.

World No. 102 Thiem, who is continuing his comeback from a wrist injury, has enjoyed plenty of success at Melbourne Park. In 2020, the Austrian earned three consecutive Top 10 wins — including an upset of first seed Rafael Nadal — en route to the final at the season’s first major. Only Novak Djokovic was able to stop him in the championship match.

Thiem owns a 19-8 record at the Australian Open and has advanced to at least the Round of 16 in four of his past five appearances.

Tournament organisers also announced main draw wild cards for American Christopher Eubanks and Frenchman Luca Van Assche.

Eubanks is playing the best tennis of his career. The 26-year-old qualified for last year’s US Open, where he reached the second round of the main draw. The American also reached ATP Challenger Tour finals in the United States shortly thereafter.

Eighteen-year-old Van Assche reached a career-high No. 137 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in December. The Frenchman won the Roland Garros boys’ singles title in 2021.

Matteo Berrettini made a good start to his season Friday and in doing so put Italy in position to close out its tie against Brazil at the United Cup.

The Italian powered past Brazilian No. 1 Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 7-6(7) to give his country a 2-1 lead. Lucia Bronzetti will now try to clinch the Group E tie in the No. 2 women’s singles match when she faces Laura Pigossi.

“Pretty happy I have to say. It’s been a long time since I’ve played my last singles match, so I didn’t know what to expect. I think the level was pretty high,” Berrettini said. “I’m happy for my performance, but obviously when you play in these kind of competitions the most important thing is to get the win and bring a point for the team and that’s why I’m even happier.”

Berrettini needed two hours and 51 minutes to defeat Monteiro last year on the clay of Rio de Janeiro. Their clash Friday was also tough, but after saving two set points in the second set the favoured Italian used his bigger game to hit his way to victory in Brisbane after one hour and 56 minutes.

Monteiro battled valiantly for his country, hitting a tremendous forehand passing shot at one moment late in the second set that drew raucous applause from the Pat Rafter Arena crowd. He also benefitted from the encouragement of his Team Zone, with captain Rafael Paciaroni and coach Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo urging him on throughout.

But his opponent’s firepower was simply too much to overcome. Berrettini dominated play with his serve — winning 88 per cent of his first-serve points (38/43) and not facing a break point — and dictated rallies with his forehand at every opportunity.

The No. 16 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings was unable to break serve in the second set and found himself up against it in the tie-break down 4/6. But after finding a sharp angle at the net in a cat-and-mouse point to retrieve the mini break, he did not relinquish another service point.

“It’s all about the heart, especially when you’re playing for Italy. When you see your teammates in the box, you have to give a little bit more and that’s what I tried to do,” Berrettini said. “Always playing tough matches against Thiago, really tough player. But I think I played better in the important moments and that’s why I won.”

With the luxury of a late start at the inaugural United Cup, Team Spain took full advantage of some leisure time by taking a trip to the iconic Sydney Harbour on Thursday. Led by Rafael Nadal, Pablo Carreno Busta and Paula Badosa, the Spaniards will open play on Saturday — New Year’s Eve — against Great Britain.

“We’re going to try our best to start in a good way and then enjoy the last day of the year,” Nadal said. “Starting with a good result on the 31st helps to finish the year in a positive way… We’re going to work as a team, and let’s see if we can [take] our chances.”

The 36-year-old never played for Spain at Hopman Cup, and he is enjoying the unique experience of the mixed-gender event in Australia.

“It’s a new experience, new type of competition,” he said of the United Cup. “I think all of us, we are very excited to enjoy this special one… We never worked as a mixed team.”

While Nadal and World No. 13 Carreno Busta give Spain strong representation from the ATP Tour, Badosa will be an equally important part of the team’s success. The 25-year-old reached a career-high ranking of No. 2 last April and enters this season at World No. 13.

“It’s my second time here in Sydney,” said Badosa, who won a WTA 500 in the city to kickstart her 2022 season one year ago. “Last year when I came here I really enjoyed it. I went for a walk, I went to visit the opera… nice restaurants as well.”

World No.12 Belinda Bencic opened her season with a tense 7-6(0), 6-3 win over No. 51 Yulia Putintseva on Day 1 of the United Cup in Brisbane, before Marc-Andrea Huesler extended Switzerland’s lead to 2-0 against Kazakhstan in Group B.

Bencic secured the straight-set win by coolly reeling in Putintseva, who led by a break early in both sets. After falling behind 4-1 in the opening set, Bencic fought off three set points on her serve to level at 5-5. She took her momentum into the tie-break, where she kept a clean sheet to secure the opening set after 72 minutes.

“I’m happy I kept fighting,” Bencic said. “For sure the positive attitude as well from my team, the crowd, and the great atmosphere got me through.”

Bencic pulled off another comeback in the second set, though with fewer dramatics. Despite falling behind 1-3, the Swiss Olympic champion never lost her cool. With both team captain Stan Wawrinka and coach Dmitry Tursunov urging her on, Bencic cleaned up her errors and ratcheted up the pressure to win the next five games.

“How can you not listen to such a champion when he’s telling you things,” Bencic said, referring to Wawrinka. “I was trying to listen, to focus, and do what I had to do.”

The victory leveled Bencic’s head-to-head against Putintseva to 3-3.

Photo: Getty Images

Huesler also needed to work hard Thursday evening, ultimately battling past 21-year-old Timofey Skatov 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 after two hours and 23 minutes.

Skatov scratched and clawed for his country inside Pat Rafter Arena, showing the talent that helped him to his maiden ATP Challenger Tour crown last October in Italy. But the Swiss was too calm under pressure, saving six of the seven break points he faced to triumph.

Huesler is playing the best tennis of his career aged 26, sitting at a career-high No. 56 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The lefty, who claimed his first ATP Tour title last year in Sofia, was just inside the Top 200 this time last year.

Playing captain Stan Wawrinka will have a chance to seal the tie for his country in the No. 1 men’s singles match on Friday when he faces another playing captain, Alexander Bublik. The Kazakhstani leads their ATP Head2Head 2-0, with both their previous clashes coming in 2022 (the second lasted three games before Wawrinka retired).

When Stan Wawrinka injured his foot early in the 2021 season, he thought he’d miss only a few weeks. Instead, he was sidelined for more than a year — and suffered many moments of doubt that he would ever play tennis again.

“Of course there were those questions in my mind,” Wawrinka said last year in Monte Carlo before his first match back on the ATP Tour. “I was afraid things wouldn’t happen the way I wanted them to happen.”

Wawrinka faced Alexander Bublik in that comeback match and played credibly, losing in three sets. As it turns out, the 37-year-old Swiss player’s first match of 2023 comes against Bublik on Friday in Brisbane as Switzerland and Kazakhstan meet in a Group B confrontation at the United Cup.

His 2022 season, understandably, was an uneven one, but there were flickers of the elite game that took Wawrinka to three Grand Slam singles titles. He reached the quarter-finals in Basel and the semis in Metz, beating then-World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round before falling in the semis to — yes — Bublik, when a hamstring injury forced his retirement 18 minutes in.

While his Pepperstone ATP Ranking slid into the low 300s last year, Wawrinka has it back to No. 148. His Swiss teammate, Marc-Andrea Huesler, is World No. 56. Wawrinka can draw from an extraordinary well of experience. He’s one of three players (along with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tomas Berdych) to defeat all of the Big Four — Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray — in Grand Slam play.

Bublik took the title in Montpellier back in February and won 33 tour-level matches across the 2022 season. He’s sits at No. 37 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings — and will take that 2-0 ATP Head2Head advantage over his Friday opponent into Pat Rafter Arena.

Pegula, Kvitova To Turn Up The Heat
How’s this for a blazing match in the sweet spot of the Australian summer: World No. 3 Jessica Pegula against two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in a United Cup Group C encounter between the United States and the Czech Republic.

With a win Friday in Sydney, Pegula will clinch the opening tie for the U.S. On Day 1, Madison Keys and Taylor Fritz won their matches to give the Americans a 2-0 lead.

The last time we saw these two square off was the fourth round of the 2022 US Open, when Pegula produced a 6-3, 6-2 victory, which sent her into the quarter-finals against World No.1 Iga Swiatek. The eventual champion prevailed in two tight sets over Pegula, but the American was headed to the WTA Finals and a career-high ranking.

Pegula’s finest moment came in Guadalajara, when she beat four major champions — Elena Rybakina, Bianca Andreescu, Sloane Stephens and Victoria Azarenka — on the way to the final. There she defeated World No.6 Maria Sakkari for her first WTA 1000 title. One week later, she was in Fort Worth for the WTA Finals, where she qualified in both singles and doubles.

“It’s just more of a reward and confidence boost for me, I think, to just show what a great season I had and how consistent I’ve been,” Pegula said. “I think as the year went on it became more of a goal. So, yeah, it’s a huge honour.”

More from the United Cup

Pegula won 42 of 63 matches for the year and her coach, David Witt, was the WTA Tour’s Coach of the Year.

Kvitova, coming off a strong season as well, is ranked World No. 16 after winning the title in Eastbourne last season. She also reached the final at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati and won three matches at the US Open before running into Pegula. The Czech player won her two previous matches against Pegula, both in 2020, in Doha and the US Open in straight sets.

United Cup: Day 2 Order of play (local time)

Sydney, Ken Rosewall Arena

U.S. vs. Czech Republic (Group C):
Jessica Pegula (USA) vs. Petra Kvitova (CZE), 10 a.m.
Frances Tiafoe (USA) vs. Tomas Machac (CZE), to follow
Mixed doubles, TBD  (USA) vs. TBD (CZE), to follow

Australia vs. Great Britain (Group D)
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) vs. Harriet Dart (GBR), 5:30 p.m.
Alex de Minaur (AUS) vs. Daniel Evans (GBR), to follow
Mixed doubles, TBD (AUS) vs. TBD (GBR), to follow

Perth, RAC Arena

Greece vs. Bulgaria (Group A)
Maria Sakkari (GRE) vs. Viktoriya Tomova (BUL), 10 a.m.
Michail Pervolarakis (GRE) vs. Dimitar Kuzmanov (BUL), to follow
Mixed doubles, TBD (GRE) vs. TBD (BUL), to follow

France vs. Argentina (Group F)
Caroline Garcia (FRA) vs. Nadia Podoroska (ARG), 5:30 p.m.
Adrian Mannarino (FRA) vs. Federico Coria (ARG), to follow
Mixed doubles, TBD (FRA) vs. TBD (ARG), 8:30, to follow

Brisbane, Pat Rafter Arena

Italy vs. Brazil (Group E)
Matteo Berrettini (ITA) vs. Thiago Monteiro (BRA), 10 a.m.
Lucia Bronzetti (ITA) vs. Laura Pigossi (BRA), to follow
Mixed doubles, TBD (ITA) vs. TBD (BRA), to follow

Switzerland vs. Kazakhstan (Group B)
Stan Wawrinka (SWI) vs. Alexander Bublik (KAZ), 5:30 p.m.
Jil Teichmann (SWI) vs. Zhibek Kulambayeva (KAZ), to follow
Mixed doubles, TBD (SWI) vs. TBD (KAZ), to follow