{"id":382807,"date":"2025-12-31T15:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T15:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/382807\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T15:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T15:14:07","slug":"format-schedule-groups-and-everything-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/382807\/","title":{"rendered":"Format, schedule, groups and everything you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United Cup is set to begin the 2026 tennis and WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. The fourth edition of the international hard-court event hosted by Tennis Australia will be held from Jan. 2-11 across Perth and Sydney.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eighteen national teams comprised of up to three women\u2019s and three men\u2019s players will compete in a group stage followed by a knockout format. Matches in Perth will take place at RAC Arena, while play in Sydney will be held at Ken Rosewell Arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you need to know about the United Cup:<\/p>\n

What is the United Cup format?<\/p>\n

For the group stage, the 18 teams were split into six groups of three in a round-robin format. Groups A, C and E will play in Perth while groups B, D and F will play in Sydney. The three group winners and best runner-up in each city will advance to the quarterfinals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perth will host its two quarterfinals Jan. 7, with winners traveling to Sydney for the semifinals and final. Teams relocating from Perth will have a travel and rest day Jan. 8-9. The Sydney quarterfinals are scheduled for Jan. 8-9, followed by the semifinals Jan. 10 and the final Jan. 11.<\/p>\n

Each session features a men\u2019s singles match, a women\u2019s singles match and a mixed doubles match. Singles matches showcase each country\u2019s top-ranked players and are best-of-three tiebreak sets.<\/p>\n

Mixed-doubles match can feature any combination of players and two tiebreak sets followed by a deciding 10-point match-tiebreak if necessary.<\/p>\n

What are the groups and who is on each team?<\/p>\n

The full player list and rankings for each qualified team can be found here<\/a>. Italicized players represent the current top women’s singles player for that country and are scheduled to represent their team in the women\u2019s singles matches.<\/p>\n

The top six seeds were assigned in order Groups A-F, while countries ranked 7-12 and 13-18 were randomly drawn into one of the six groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n

United Cup 2026: Breaking down the six groups in Perth and Sydney<\/a><\/p>\n

Perth<\/p>\n

Group A
United States (1) — Coco Gauff, Varvara Lepchenko, Nicole Melichar-Martinez
Spain — Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, Andrea Lazaro Garcia, Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers
Argentina — Solana Sierra, Maria Lourdes Carle, Nicole Fossa Huergo<\/p>\n

Group C
Italy (3) — Jasmine Paolini, Nuria Brancaccio, Sara Errani
France — Leolia Jeanjean, Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, Elixane Lechemia
Switzerland — Belinda Bencic, Naima Karamoko<\/p>\n

Group E
Great Britain (5) — Emma Raducanu, Olivia Nicholls, Katie Swan
Greece — Maria Sakkari, Despina Papamichail, Sapfo Sakellaridi
Japan — Naomi Osaka, Nao Hibino<\/p>\n

Sydney<\/p>\n

Group B
Canada (2) — Victoria Mboko, Kayla Cross, Gabriela Dabrowski
Belgium — Elise Mertens, Greet Minnen, Lara Salden
China — Zhu Lin, Xiaodi You<\/p>\n

Group D
Australia (4) — Maya Joint, Maddison Inglis, Storm Hunter
Czechia — Barbora Krejcikova, Linda Fruhvirtova, Miriam Skoch
Norway — Malene Helgo, Astrid Brune Olsen, Ulrikke Eikeri<\/p>\n

Group F
Germany (6) — Eva Lys, Laura Siegemund, Mina Hodzic
Poland — Iga Swiatek, Katarzyna Kawa, Katarzyna Piter
Netherlands — Suzan Lamens, Eva Vedder, Demi Schuurs<\/p>\n

What is the daily schedule?<\/p>\n

Most days will feature a day session and night session. In Perth, the day session begins at 10 a.m. and the night session at 5 p.m. In Sydney, the day session begins at 10:30 a.m. and the night session at 5:30 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each session begins with the two singles matches and ends with the mixed doubles. The full schedule, including all singles matchups, can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Time zones and conversion
Perth — Australian Western Standard Time (GMT +8, EST +13)
Sydney \u2013 Australian Eastern Daylight Time (GMT +11, EST +16)<\/p>\n

10 a.m. in Perth — 2 a.m. GMT | 9 p.m. EST (the day prior)
5 p.m. in Perth — 9 a.m. GMT | 4 a.m. EST
10:30 a.m. in Sydney — 11:30 p.m. GMT (the day prior) | 6:30 p.m. EST (the day prior)
5:30 p.m. in Sydney — 6:30 a.m. GMT | 1:30 a.m. EST<\/p>\n

New year, new goals: WTA stars revisit 2025 and preview the 2026 season<\/p>\n

Day-by-day schedule (All times local)<\/p>\n

Jan. 2
10 a.m. — Spain vs. Argentina (Perth, Group A)
5 p.m. — Greece vs. Japan (Perth, Group E)<\/p>\n

Jan. 3
10 a.m. — France vs. Switzerland (Perth, Group C)
10:30 a.m. — Belgium vs. China (Sydney, Group B)
5 p.m. — United States vs. Argentina (Perth, Group A)
5:30 p.m. — Australia vs. Norway (Sydney, Group D)<\/p>\n

Jan. 4
10 a.m. — Great Britain vs. Japan (Perth, Group E)
10:30 a.m. — Germany vs. Netherlands (Sydney, Group F)
5 p.m. — Italy vs. Switzerland (Perth, Group C)
5:30 p.m. — Canada vs. China (Sydney, Group B)<\/p>\n

Jan. 5
10 a.m. — \u00a0United States vs. Spain (Perth, Group A)
10:30 a.m. — Czechia vs. Norway (Sydney, Group D)
5 p.m. — Great Britain vs. Greece (Perth, Group E)
5:30 p.m. — Germany vs. Poland (Sydney, Group F)<\/p>\n

Jan. 6
10 a.m. — \u00a0Italy vs. France (Perth, Group C)
10:30 a.m. — Canada vs. Belgium (Sydney, Group B)
5:30 p.m. — Australia vs. Czechia (Sydney, Group D)<\/p>\n

Jan. 7 (Perth quarterfinals)
10 a.m. — Quarterfinal 1: Winner Group A vs. Best Runner-Up\u00a0
10:30 a.m. — Poland vs. Netherlands (Sydney, Group F)
5 p.m. — Quarterfinal 2: Winner Group C vs. Winner Group E<\/p>\n

Jan. 8 (Sydney quarterfinals)
5:30 p.m. — Quarterfinal 3: Winner Group B vs. Best Runner-Up
Winners of Perth quarterfinals have a travel day, Jan. 8.<\/p>\n

Jan. 9 (Sydney quarterfinals)
5:30 p.m. — Quarterfinal 4: Winner Group D vs. Winner Group F
Winners of Perth quarterfinals have a travel day, Jan. 9.<\/p>\n

Jan. 10 (Sydney)
10:30 a.m. — Semifinal 1: Winner QF 2 vs. Winner QF 3
5:30 p.m. — Semifinal 2: Winner QF 1 vs. Winner QF 4<\/p>\n

Jan. 11 (Sydney)
5:30 p.m. — Final<\/p>\n

What are the rankings points and prize money at stake?<\/p>\n

The United Cup is categorized as a WTA 500 event. Ranking points are only given for singles based on number of matches won, and not mixed doubles. Prize money, based \u00a0is available for match-wins per player for both singles and mixed doubles in addition to prize money for the team as a whole.<\/p>\n

Singles match wins and ranking points
0 match-wins: 1 point
1 match-win: 32 points
1 match-win*: 60 points
2 match-wins: 90 points
2 match-wins*: \u00a0108 points
3 match-wins: 150 points
4 match-wins: 325 points
5 match-wins: 500 points<\/p>\n

*If one win occurs in quarterfinal, semifinal or final<\/p>\n

Prize money is available for singles, mixed doubles and team wins, based on what stage the win occurs.<\/p>\n

Prize money (per player, per win) \u2013 Singles | Mixed Doubles | Team\u00a0
Group stage win: $45,000 | $8,500 | $6,000
Quarterfinal win: $82,000 | $15,400 | $9,500
Semifinal win: $155,900 | $29,200 | $16,100
Final win: $296,200 | $55,800 | $27,300<\/p>\n

Who is the defending champion?<\/p>\n

Last year, the Americans, led by Gauff and Taylor Fritz, defeated Canada and Croatia in the group stage and China, Czechia and Poland in the knockout stage. Gauff, who finished undefeated in all her singles matches, withstood Iga Swiatek in the final 6-4, 6-4. The United States seeks its third title in the event\u2019s four-year history.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

What are the top group stage singles matches to watch?
\nEmma Raducanu (GBR) vs. Naomi Osaka (JPN) — Group E, Jan. 4, Perth day session<\/p>\n

Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka and 2021 US Open champion Raducanu will encounter each other for just the second time in their careers. Raducanu won 6-4, 6-2 in Washington D.C. this past summer.<\/p>\n

Osaka climbed her way back into the top 20, highlighted by a semifinal run at the US Open in September. Both players will be making their United Cup debuts, and for Osaka, it will be her country\u2019s debut at the tournament entirely.<\/p>\n

Jasmine Paolini (ITA) vs. Belinda Bencic (SUI) — Group C, Jan. 4, Perth night session<\/p>\n

A battle of two top 12 players will be the headlining women\u2019s singles matchup in Group C. With the head-to-head deadlocked at two wins apiece, both Paolini and Bencic look to begin 2026 on a high after momentous 2025 campaigns.<\/p>\n

This past season, after returning from maternity leave, Bencic won WTA 500 titles in Abu Dhabi and Tokyo while Paolini won her country\u2019s signature event, the Internazionali BNL d\u2019Italia. Paolini won both matchups in 2025, including a 6-1, 6-1 win at the United Cup last January.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Victoria Mboko (CAN) vs. Elise Mertens (BEL) — Group B, Jan. 6, Sydney day session<\/p>\n

Rising star Victoria Mboko was one of the best storylines in 2025, from outside the top 300 to her current and career-high rank of No. 18. She\u2019ll face veteran and 10-time WTA singles champion Mertens for the first time.<\/p>\n

Mboko\u2019s pivotal moment in 2025 came at her country\u2019s premier tournament, the National Bank Open, when Mboko defeated Osaka in the final. Mertens enters 2026 following a WTA Finals Riyadh doubles championship victory alongside Veronika Kudermetova.<\/p>\n

Maya Joint (AUS) vs. Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) — Group D, Jan. 6, Sydney night session<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a meteoric rise for Joint, who sat outside the top 100 before 2025 and reached her current rank of No. 32. She earned her first WTA Tour-level titles in Rabat and Eastbourne, climbing her way to the Australian No. 1<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll face two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova for the first time. Krejcikova, ranked No. 65, battled injuries through the first part of 2025, but made a quarterfinal run at the US Open and Seoul to close her season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United Cup is set to begin the 2026 tennis and WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. The fourth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-382807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}