Taylor Fritz edged Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7–6 (5), 7–6 (5) on Saturday to push Team United States into the United Cup championship match against Team Italy in Sydney, Australia.
Fritz’s hard-fought victory gave the U.S. an insurmountable 3–0 lead in the Final Four of the inaugural 18-country, mixed-team competition. Fritz weathered Hurkacz’s 17 aces by winning 88 percent of his own first-service points (44 of 50) in a match where neither player’s serve was broken.
The Americans completed the 5–0 sweep with Madison Keys beating Magda Linette 6–4, 6–2 and Fritz and Jessica Pegula rallying to defeat Lukasz Kubot and Alicja Rosolska 6–7 (5), 6–4, 10–6 in mixed doubles.
The Italians advanced to the final with a 4–1 victory against Team Greece. Lucia Bronzetti clinched the win with a 6–2, 6–3 win against Valentini Grammatikopoulou….