Coco Gauff put a marker in front of the Australian Open by beating Iga Swiatek for the second time in a row as she put the USA 1-0 up in the United Cup final against Poland.
Gauff followed up her win over Swiatek at the WTA Finals in Riyadh in November with a 6-4 6-4 win in Sydney on Sunday ahead of Taylor Fritz's men's match against Hubert Hurkaz.
The third tennis player in the world said after seeing off the second player: “I believe that I am one of the best players in the world and when I play good tennis it is difficult to beat me.
Swiatek committed 19 unforced errors in the opening set
Gauff took a 2-0 lead in the first set, only for Swiatek to fight back to fall behind 3-2, but she pounced on 19 unforced errors from the Pole to win four of the next five games.
Gauff double-faulted when he lost serve in the second set, but earned the break at the end of the 10-minute game with a forehand pass to level the score at 4-4.
She then broke Swiatek again to win the match after her opponent took a medical time-out as she took her singles record at this year's United Cup to 5-0, following previous wins over Leylah Fernandez, Donna Vekic, Zhang Shuai and Karolina Muchov.
The Australian Open starts on January 12, and Gauff and Swiatek are looking to win it for the first time.
Their best results so far are reaching the semi-finals – Swiatek in 2022 before losing to Danielle Collins and Gauff last year when she fell to eventual champion Arya Sabalenka.
Sabalenka set herself up for her title defense with a win at the Brisbane International, beating world No. 107 Polina Kudermetova 4-6 6-3 6-2 in straight sets.
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