At first glance, Saturday\u2019s United Cup meeting between Team USA\u2019s Coco Gauff and Solana Sierra of Argentina might suggest something of a level playing field.<\/p>\n
They are both 21 and made their first marks at majors by reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon. Gauff had 48 wins in 2025 and Sierra — one of the season\u2019s most pleasant surprises — won 46.<\/p>\n
But those numbers can be deceiving. Gauff is ranked No. 3 among WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz players, and Sierra is 63 spots down the ladder.<\/p>\n
Gauff broke through at Wimbledon as a 15-year-old and has already collected two Grand Slam singles titles. Last year — six years after Coco’s fourth-round run at Wimbledon — Sierra reached that stage as a lucky loser at the All England Club, and won eight of 10 matches at three WTA 125 tournaments to close out her season.<\/p>\n
Gauff and Sierra have never played.<\/p>\n
United Cup:\u00a0Scores<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Standings<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n “It’s always tricky playing someone you never played before,\u201d Gauff told reporters in Perth. “Solana, I know she can serve well. Feisty player, so I know I have to compete for each point.”<\/p>\n It\u2019s the second day of United Cup play in Perth, with Team USA playing Argentina — which picked up a win over Spain on Day 1 — and France squaring off against Switzerland. Meanwhile, Sydney\u2019s United Cup play opens with Belgium vs. China, followed by Australia against Norway.<\/p>\n Sierra knows what she\u2019s up against.<\/p>\n “I think it’s going to be tough matches,\u201d she said. “They are top players, but I like these matches. I think it’s good to see the level.”<\/p>\n That level will be challenging. Gauff was 5-0 in last year\u2019s United Cup and helped Team USA take its second title in three years.<\/p>\n “Last year I remember being super nervous, because I didn’t want to let anyone down,” Gauff said. “But I was able to come out of that and do pretty well. I’m hoping to be able to do the same. I think for me, coming off preseason and being able to start the year in a team environment, it’s like the perfect mix of pressure and having fun.”<\/p>\n Comeback Player of the Year Belinda Bencic will also face a first-time opponent in Leolia Jeanjean. The surging Bencic finished the season at No. 11 after becoming a mother in 2024.<\/p>\n “Obviously, I think last year went really well,” Bencic said. \u201cYou know, above our expectations, really. I definitely hope to carry it with me to 2026.”<\/p>\n Jeanjean, 30, had a terrific season, posting 47 victories in mostly ITF and WTA 125 events. This is her third United Cup, but first as the leading singles player.<\/p>\n “It’s really a big pleasure to be able to play, to be able to play against such good players,” Jeanjean said. \u201cIt’s really good.”<\/p>\n Day 2 schedule: Perth, RAC Arena France (0-0) vs. Switzerland (0-0)<\/p>\n Start Time: 10 a.m. local, 9 p.m. ET<\/p>\n Women\u2019s singles: Leolia Jeanjean vs. Belinda Bencic<\/p>\n Men\u2019s singles: Arthur Rinderknech vs. Stan Wawrinka<\/p>\n Mixed doubles: Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah and Edouard Roger-Vasselin vs. Bencic and Wawrinka<\/p>\n Group A<\/p>\n United States (0-0) vs. Argentina (1-0)<\/p>\n Start Time: Not before 5 p.m. local, 4 a.m. ET<\/p>\n Women\u2019s singles: Coco Gauff vs. Solana Sierra<\/p>\n Men\u2019s singles: Taylor Fritz vs. Sebastian Baez<\/p>\n Mixed doubles: Gauff and Fritz vs. Maria Lourdes Carle and Guido Andreozzi\u00a0<\/p>\n Highlights: Sierra edges Bouzas Maneiro at United Cup 2026<\/p>\n United Cup play kicks off in Sydney\u00a0<\/p>\n At Ken Rosewall Arena, it\u2019s a 30-something meeting between Elise Mertens of Belgium and China\u2019s Zhu Lin. Mertens holds a 3-1 head-to-head edge, but they haven\u2019t played since 2021 Wimbledon.<\/p>\n Mertens is a versatile player; she and Veronika Kudermetova were doubles champions at the recent WTA Finals in Riyadh. Nevertheless, she doesn\u2019t have a ton of experience playing mixed doubles.<\/p>\n “Very happy that it is an important point, if it’s 1-all, of course,” Mertens told reporters, before offering some guidance to her partner, Zizou Bergs. “Some tips? Your energy is big and I like it. We have to be at the net, great serve. Just have some fun, too.”<\/p>\n “Valuable tips,” Bergs responded. “Thank you.”<\/p>\n In the opening tie, Australian teenager Maya Joint is scheduled to take on Norway\u2019s Malene Helgo. Joint won their only meeting, in a 2024 ITF W50 event in Slovenia. Joint is a rising star, already ranked No. 32 — more than 300 spots ahead of Helgo.<\/p>\n Joint has been feeling a little under the weather, but Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt is optimistic that she\u2019ll be good to go.<\/p>\n “Hopefully it’s only a 24-hour thing and she can bounce back tomorrow,” he said. “She hit well yesterday. Yeah, fingers crossed she gets the chance.”<\/p>\n Day 2 schedule: Sydney, Ken Rosewall Arena Australia (0-0) vs. Norway (0-0)<\/p>\n Start Time: 10:30 a.m. local, 2:30 a.m. ET<\/p>\n Women\u2019s singles: Maya Joint vs. Malene Helgo<\/p>\n Men\u2019s singles: Alex de Minaur vs. Casper Ruud<\/p>\n Mixed doubles: Storm Hunter and John-Patrick Smith vs. Ulrikke Eikeri and Ruud<\/p>\n Group A<\/p>\n Belgium (0-0) vs. China (0-0)<\/p>\n Start Time: Not before 5 p.m. local, 4 a.m. ET<\/p>\n Women\u2019s singles: Elise Mertens vs. Zhu Lin<\/p>\n Men\u2019s singles: Zizou Bergs vs. Zhang Zhizhen<\/p>\n Mixed doubles: Mertens and Bergs vs. Zhu and Zhang<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At first glance, Saturday\u2019s United Cup meeting between Team USA\u2019s Coco Gauff and Solana Sierra of Argentina might…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428,1959],"class_list":{"0":"post-384121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGroup C<\/p>\n
\nGroup D<\/p>\n