A COUPLE of North American powerhouses along with a dangerous European nation highlight a stacked Group A of the United Cup that will take place in Perth either side of the new year. Ahead of the United Cup which kicks off on Friday, we will preview each of the six groups and take a look at the three sides in each group to determine which nation will advance through to the next stage.

GROUP A – PERTH

UNITED STATES:

Taylor Fritz
Coco Gauff
Denis Kudla (Backup singles)
Danielle Collins (Backup singles)
Robert Galloway (Doubles)
Desirae Krawczyk (Doubles)

The Americans are an absolutely stacked group at the top end, with Fritz and WTA Finals winner Gauff set to be a tough to beat combination. While both could well team up for the doubles as well, the United States have a couple of top 40 players in Galloway (34th) and Krawczkyk (11th) who are more than capable. Collins is a ridiculous backup singles player, while most of the other American males rightly set their sights on tournaments where they will have a greater chance of consistent playing.

Prediction: Win the group / Title contender

CANADA:

Felix Auger-Aliassime
Leylah Fernandez
Liam Draxl (Backup singles)
Stacey Fung (Backup singles)
Benjamin Sigouin (Doubles)
Ariana Arseneault (Doubles)

The Canadians might be fun to watch, but it will be hard to see them advancing or even getting a second placed wildcard spot into the knockout stages given the great unknowns. Auger-Aliassime and Fernandez are wonderfully talented players – the latter reached a US Open final – but are not as consistent as some of their contemporaries. The rest of the side consists of younger players or lower ranked hopes willing to play backup in Perth.

Prediction: Third in group

CROATIA:

Borna Coric
Donna Vekic
Luka Mikrut (Backup singles)
Lucija Ciric Bagaric (Backup singles)
Petra Marcinko (Backup singles)
Ivan Dodig (Doubles)

Croatia are actually the lowest ranked nation at the United Cup due to Vekic’s world ranking of 18th being the qualifying factor. While both her and Coric (90th in the world) do not jump off the page, they are more than capable of getting an upset win over the Canadians. Hard to see them beating the United States, but if somehow one of them jagged an upset win, then worldclass doubles player Dodig and Vekic – more than capable on the doubles court herself – pairing up would make the top seeded nation nervous.

Prediction: Second in group / chance for wildcard