Coco Gauff has come up big for the United States in a deciding match for the third time over the past couple of days as the United States have been through to the United Cup semifinal.
Earlier today, the WTA world No. 3 defeated Greece's Maria Sakkari before Stefanos Tsitsipas downed Taylor Fritz.
After the opening two singles matches and the tie being leveled to 1-1, it all came down to a deciding mixed doubles match.
Just like in the previous two deciding matches against Argentina and Spain, American team captain Michael Russell sent Gauff and Christian Harrison on the court. And the American pair made it three out of three at this year's United Cup after edging out Sakkari and Tsitsipas 4-6 6-4 10-8.
Gauff and Harrison made a slow start and lost their serve three times in the first set, but stabilized in the second set and managed to force a match tie-break.
In the match tie-break, the American pair went 6-1 up before Sakkari and Tsitsipas stunningly responded with a five-point run and leveled the score to 6-6. However, the American team didn't panic – took the next three points for a 9-6 lead – before converting their third match point to seal the win and book a United Cup semifinal spot for the American side.
Gauff was ready to step up again
"Yeah, it's a different experience I think from last year, because last year I didn't lose any matches. So coming in and losing my second match was definitely a change in mindset," the world No. 3 said earlier today after beating Sakkari.
"But I think I learned just the pressure, it feels definitely sometimes a bit more when you are playing for a team, but also a little bit less because I feel really confident in Taylor. Obviously I want to win my match, but I feel like if I were to lose, he would be able to pick me up. I think he feels the same, vice versa."
