Both Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff were in an understandably positive mood after their respective singles victories handed the USA victory over Poland in the United Cup final on Sunday.

Gauff had initially beaten Iga Swiatek in straight sets to give the USA a 1-0 lead. It was a second successive victory over Swiatek for the world number three, who also beat her on the way to the WTA Finals title in Riyadh in November.

"I have the belief that I'm one of the best players in the world and when I play good tennis I'm hard to beat," Gauff said. "Today I think I played some great tennis. I'm glad I was able to get a point for Team USA. It was tough today, I'm not gonna lie.

Gauff overcame former world number one Swiatek 6-4, 6-4 in Sydney, becoming the youngest player to win three consecutive matches against the WTA's top two since Daria Kasatkina in 2017. She also did not drop a set in any of her five singles matches throughout the tournament.

Swiatek, meanwhile, took a medical timeout at 5-4 down in the second set to receive strapping to her left thigh, which had been an issue all week. Following the defeat, she looked in pain as she left the court in tears.

3 - Coco Gauff is the youngest player to win three consecutive matches against top-2 in the WTA since Daria Kasatkina in 2017. Stunning. #UnitedCup | @UnitedCupTennis @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/24QepdI69k
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 5, 2025

Later, Fritz beat Hubert Hurkacz on a tiebreaker after a three-set match that went the distance (6-4, 5-7, 7-6(4)) to give the USA an unassailable 2-0 lead in the final.

The serve-dominated match featured 30 aces and just three break points, but Fritz was able to get over the line and paid tribute to his team-mate having done so.

"It's amazing. It's almost more fun to win the team events because you have people to celebrate with afterwards," Fritz said.

"Coco made it easy for me as the MVP on the team; it definitely helped my job a lot and it's great to get it a second time."

Gauff was in agreement with Fritz and enjoyed the collective aspect of the experience, having not been part of the victorious USA team in the previous edition of the competition.

"It's great to win a team event, the only team event I've ever won, so I'm super excited," said Gauff.