AUSTRALIA will not win the 2025 United Cup after falling agonisingly short of a wildcard at the event. The green and gold did manage to defeat Great Britain last night, but with the result being 2-1, the decision for the second placed wildcard turned to games won as a tiebreaker and therefore allowed Czech Republic that honour.

It was a kick in the guts for the home side and particularly Alex de Minaur who could not have done much more in Sydney. He completely dismantled British men’s singles player Billy Harris in an hour and 17 minutes, 6-2 6-1, cancelling out his fiancee’s equal effort over Aussie women’s singles representative Olivia Gadecki with the exact same scoreline but five minutes faster.

It meant the tie went to a deciding doubles, and the number one ranked player on each team gets to decide who plays the tie. With de Minaur in form, he opted to put himself in and have the match on his racquet, but made the odd decision to include singles player Gadecki over specialist doubles player Ellen Perez. An excited Gadecki returned to the court with one of the world’s best doubles players in Matthew Ebden also left to the side.

Boulter – who admitted she had lost sleep over the fact she could face de Minaur in a mixed doubles – opted not to play, with Great Britain having already secured its spot in the semi-finals. Instead she chose her specialist doubles player in Olivia Nicholls to partner Chris Broom in the decider.

For Australia to win, the home nation could not conceded more than four games, and after winning the last few games of the first set went up 6-3, and while able to take out the match, the second set went to a tiebreaker meaning the 6-3 7-6 victory was essentially a consolation victory for the Aussies.

“It was great. I enjoyed every second we had here on this Sydney court,” de Minaur said despite his nation bowing out. “I enjoyed playing mixed with Liv a lot. It was a lot of fun, great atmosphere, thank you guys. We did our best. As I said, always a pleasure to play at home.”

Gadecki said she was also honoured to play in such an important match.

“I’m so glad I got to share the court with Alex tonight. It was such a pleasure and I knew I had to step up.”

AUSTRALIA (2) defeated GREAT BRITAIN (1)

Katie Boulter (GBR) defeated Olivia Gadecki (AUS) 6-2 6-1
Alex de Minaur (AUS) defeated Billy Harris (GBR) 6-2 6-1
O. Gadecki/A. de Minaur (AUS) defeated O. Nicholls/C. Broom (GBR) 6-3 7-6

A second semi-finalist was decided in Perth on the same night, with the United States joining Kazakhstan in reaching the last four and will head to Sydney. The Americans will face the winner of Italy and Czech Republic in the semis after sweeping wildcard China comfortably.

Both Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz won their singles in straight sets, with Gauff knocking off veteran Shuai Zhang – who has pushed Gauff before – 7-6 6-2, while Fritz got past Zhizhen Zhang, 6-4 6-4. That guaranteed the number one seed’s safe passage to the Harbour City, so they took a seat as doubles pairing Desirae Krawczyk and debutant Robert Galloway stepped up.

“Coco did such a good job putting us ahead and giving me the chance to come out and put us through,” Fritz said post-match. “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. “I played a really solid match. “Really happy with it.

“… I felt like I’ve gotten better with each of the matches I’ve played and this match tonight definitely felt like I was back in the flow of how things were feeling at the end of the year.”

The United States went against Shuai and Fajing Sun, and after a fight through the second set, closed out the win in the super tiebreak, 6-3 6-7 10-3. It also meant the United States have won all bar one match – Fritz’s capitulation against Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, to be 8-1 for the tournament and the most dominant side.

USA (3) defeated CHINA (0)

Coco Gauff (USA) defeated Shuai Zhang (CHN) 7-6 6-2
Taylor Fritz (USA) defeated Zhizhen Zhang (CHN) 6-4 6-4
D. Krawczyk/R. Galloway (USA) defeated S. Zhang/F. Sun (CHN) 6-3 6-7 10-3