PERTH, Australia \u2014<\/span> Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz powered the US, tournament winner two years ago, into the semifinals of the United Cup mixed teams tennis event on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\r\r
In the first singles match, Gauff had a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over China's Zhang Shuai. Fritz then made sure of victory for the US by edging Zhang Zhizhen 6-4, 6-4.<\/span><\/p>\r\r
\"Shuai was playing amazing tennis out there. I was literally on the ground for most of the match,\" world No. 3 Gauff said.<\/span><\/p>\r\r \"The harder I hit, the harder she was hitting. I felt like I couldn't get her on defense.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\r The No. 4-ranked Fritz said he didn't want to let Gauff down.<\/span><\/p>\r\r \"There was a little bit of pressure because I didn't want to be the one who loses it for the team after Coco won all her matches this week,\" he said.<\/span><\/p>\r\r The Americans completed a 3-0 sweep when Desirae Krawczyk and Robert Galloway beat Zhang and Sun Fajing 6-3, 6-7 (1), 10-3 in the mixed doubles. The US next meets either Italy or Czech Republic, who play their quarterfinal on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\r\r Kazakhstan also advanced to the semifinals with a 2-1 win over a Germany team playing without the injured world No. 2 Alexander Zverev.<\/span><\/p>\r\r Zverev was a late scratch due to a biceps injury. He was scheduled to face Alexander Shevchenko but withdrew at the last minute with Kazakhstan leading the tie 1-0 after Elena Rybakina beat Laura Siegemund 6-3, 6-1.<\/span><\/p>\r\r Shevchenko beat Zverev's replacement, Daniel Masur, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2 to clinch the tie while Zverev watched from the sidelines. Germany won the later mixed doubles.<\/span><\/p>\r\r Shevchenko took a medical timeout due to heat exhaustion while leading 1-0 in the second set. He came back from the break to dominate the rest of the match.<\/span><\/p>\r\r \"It was a heat problem for sure,\" Shevchenko said. \"I had a bit of a headache, my head was spinning. It was a struggle this match. To play in this heat was so tough.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\r Kazakhstan next meets Poland or Britain, who play Thursday in Sydney, where all remaining matches in the tournament will be played.<\/span><\/p>\r\r In Sydney, Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz won their deciding mixed doubles match over the Czech Republic to qualify Poland for the quarterfinals.<\/span><\/p>\r\r World No. 2 Swiatek and Hurkacz beat Tomáš Machá<\/span>\u010d<\/span> and Karol\u00edna Muchová 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the decider at Ken Rosewall Arena. The Polish team led 5-2 before allowing the Czechs back into the first set.<\/span><\/p>\r\r In earlier singles, Machá<\/span>\u010d<\/span> gave the Czech Republic the lead with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win over Hurkacz before Swiatek evened the tie with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Muchová.<\/span><\/p>\r\r Also in Sydney, Katie Boulter's 6-2, 6-1 win over Olivia Gadecki of Australia helped Britain clinch a quarterfinal place.<\/span><\/p>\r\r Boulter went into the match in the knowledge that a straight-set victory would ensure Britain's progress to the last eight as Group F winner.<\/span><\/p>\r\r \"I've been trying to avoid all the stats... but we were at dinner with (former British No. 1 Laura Robson) last night and she thankfully told me I had to win in straight sets,\" Boulter said.<\/span><\/p>\r\r Alex de Minaur, who is engaged to marry Boulter, drew the host level with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Billy Harris before he combined with Gadecki to defeat Charles Broom and Olivia Nicholls 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the mixed doubles. Australia's 2-1 victory, though, was not enough to qualify the team for the last eight.<\/span><\/p>","article_custom_fields":"{\"\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_keywords\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_description\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_title\":[\"\"],\"sponsored_flag\":[\"\"],\"offer_flag\":[\"off\"],\"featured_article_flag\":[\"\"],\"drupal_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":null,\\\"properties\\\":{\\\"PUBLISHED\\\":0,\\\"PROMOTED\\\":0,\\\"STICKY\\\":0},\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"wp_custom_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"article_tags\":[\"\"],\"show_image\":[\"off\"],\"Disable_Ad\":[\"off\"],\"disable_player\":[\"off\"],\"column\":[\"\"],\"kicker\":[\"\"],\"edel\":[\"\"],\"delu\":[\"\"],\"delt\":[\"Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.\"],\"premium\":[\"off\"],\"Redirect_URL\":[\"\"],\"Registration_required\":[\"off\"],\"background_image\":[\"off\"],\"user_needs\":[\"\"],\"page_number\":\"0\",\"initial_publication\":\"\",\"date_created\":\"2025-01-02 21:03:03\",\"date_modified\":\"2025-01-02 21:04:22\",\"last_modified_user\":\"Mhel Jhon Flores\",\"section_color\":\"#08F304\",\"target_page\":\"0\",\"cxense_metatags\":null}","cms_type":"live","author_id":861,"section_id":3,"seo_meta_keywords":"Gauff,,Fritz,power,US,to,United,Cup,semis","seo_meta_description":"","seo_meta_title":"Gauff, Fritz power US to United Cup semis","publish_time":"2025-01-03 00:07:00","related_articles_ids":"","article_tags":"","sub_section_id":0,"visit_count":0,"sponsored_flag":0,"offer_flag":0,"featured_article_flag":0,"media_gallery_flag":0,"video_gallery_flag":0,"highlight_flag":0,"top_story_flag":0,"is_updated":0,"is_old_article":0,"old_article_id":0,"article_byline":"Associated Press","ts":"2025-01-02 21:04:30","last_edited":"2025-01-02 21:04:22","alt_publish_time":"2025-01-02 21:04:27","image_path":"{\\\"image_path\\\":\\\"manilatimes\\\\\/uploads\\\\\/images\\\\\/2025\\\\\/01\\\\\/02\\\\\/504122.jpg\\\",\\\"cms_type\\\":\\\"live\\\",\\\"small_image\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"is_updated\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_cropping\\\":\\\"{\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_original_width\\\\\\\":512,\\\\\\\"image_original_height\\\\\\\":341,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\"},\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_main_width\\\\\\\":1200,\\\\\\\"image_main_height\\\\\\\":799,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\"}}\\\",\\\"is_copied\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"media_type\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_caption\\\":\\\"SEMIS-BOUND Coco Gauff of the United States hits a return shot to Zhang Shuai of China during their United Cup tennis match in Perth, Australia, on Jan. 1, 2025. 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Gauff, Fritz power US to United Cup semis
