Team USA poses for a photo after winning United’s inaugural trophy – (Photo: Mark Evans/EFE)
The United States is the first champion in the history of the Nations Cup. With a dominant performance in the inaugural competition decision in Sydney, Australia, this Sunday, the US tennis team won the title with a 3-0 record in the series against Italy. Jessica Pegula, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz defeated Martina Trevisan, Lorenzo Musetti and Matteo Berrettini, respectively. Madison Keys closed out the round with a 4-0 victory over Lucia Bronzetti.
“This is amazing. It was amazing for the team to win this event. We came here with very high expectations. I was very optimistic and was really happy to play the game that decided the title,” Fritz stated after the win.
The world No. 9 has been flawless throughout the Nations Cup and dropped just one set in all of his matches at the tournament against Britain’s Cameron Norrie. This Sunday, Fritz beat Berrettini (16th in the standings) by two sets to 0, with two parts of 7/6 (7/4) and 7/6 (8/6).
To lift the trophy, the North American national team passed through the Czech Republic, Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland and Italy. All duels were won in a dominant manner, the lowest score was 4-1, and in individual duels, the USA lost only two matches.
The way was opened to a 0-set victory for world number 3 Jessica Pegula over 27th seed Martina Trevisan. Partials were 6/4 and 6/2 after 1h29 of contention.
The second match is not over. Frances Tiafoe won the first set 6-2 over Musett and shortly thereafter the Italian retired due to a sore shoulder. Tiafoe is ranked 19th and has only dropped one set in the competition. Musetti is No. 23.
Since the tournament includes points in the singles standings, the round continued even after the title was confirmed with a score of 3 to 0. Keys (11th in the rankings) entered the court against Bronzetti (54) and came back again 2 to 0, with partials of 6/3 and 6/6 2. However, the doubles match was forfeited.
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