When Coco Gauff is at her best, it’s not far-fetched to say the American puts the star in “stars and stripes.”
United Cup: Scores | Standings
So, it came as no surprise that in a moment as big as Wednesday’s United Cup quarterfinal tie pitting the United States against Greece, Gauff delivered. The World No. 4 defeated Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour and 26 minutes at RAC Arena, giving the United States a pivotal 1-0 lead ahead of a men’s singles blockbuster between Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
What made the performance even more impressive was that Gauff was coming off one of her rougher outings in recent memory, particularly on serve.
Those issues were nowhere to be found under the sunny Perth skies, as the 21-year-old led wire-to-wire.
“Definitely a much better match today,” Gauff said in her on-court interview. “Last match, I just tried to erase it. That’s the beauty of this tournament and having a team like Taylor [Fritz] and Christian [Harrison] that gave me the chance to stay in the tournament and be able to prove myself better today. So definitely happy to give my team the lead today.”
Gauff posted much-improved numbers from the service line, landing 68% of her first serves while winning 76% of those points. After hitting 14 double faults just two days earlier, she cut that total to six against Sakkari en route to her 245th career WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz victory.
For Sakkari, the match was a step back in what has otherwise been a promising week, highlighted by wins over Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu. While the season is only just beginning, 2026 looms large for the 30-year-old. A former Top 5 player, Sakkari enters the year at No. 52 in the PIF WTA Rankings.
The win marks Gauff’s third straight over Sakkari and gives her a 6-5 edge in their head-to-head.