France wins mixed doubles decider to top Norway in United Cup QFs

Peter Staples/ATP Tour

France won a thrilling deciding mixed doubles match Thursday evening to clinch its 2-1 victory against Norway in the United Cup quarter-finals.

Caroline Garcia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin defeated Ulrikke Eikeri and Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-4 just before the stroke of midnight to send their country to a semi-final showdown Saturday against powerhouse Poland, led by WTA No. 1 Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz. The French in the crowd helped push Garcia and Roger-Vasselin over the line.

"It's so nice. We play an individual sport and a few times in the year we have the chance to represent Team France," Garcia said. "We are... very far from home and it's nice in the city already we can see there are so many French. It's so great to have that many... fans here cheering us on and it's part of the United Cup I think."

There was little to separate the two teams inside a raucous Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney. Garcia and Roger-Vasselin saved all seven break points they faced, which proved critical.

The most pivotal moment of the match came with Roger-Vasselin serving at 4-5 in the first set. Trailing 15/40, the 40-year-old hit an ace, an unreturned serve and then put pressure on Norway with a deep backhand approach shot, allowing Garcia to put away a backhand volley.

"Tomorrow is going to be a day off. We are not that young anymore, especially me," playing captain Roger-Vasselin said. "Tomorrow will just be a day off, try to rest, enjoy Sydney maybe and then come back strong for Saturday's semi-final."

Ruud maintained his hot singles start to the 2024 season and by doing so put Norway one win from reaching the semi-finals. Ruud cruised past tricky lefty Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 6-4 in just one hour and 17 minutes.

“I think just early breaks both sets, serving well from my side. I don’t think I faced a break point,” Ruud said of the keys to the match. “That’s a great stat for my standard of serving, so just really pleased, happy with the level first of all and putting Norway back on the board.

“I lost to Adrian a few years ago so it’s nice to have revenge.” 

Flying by ✈️@CasperRuud98 proves too strong for Mannarino, defeating the french 6-1 6-4!#UnitedCup pic.twitter.com/00J1oEzC0I

— United Cup (@UnitedCupTennis) January 4, 2024

Ruud has won all three of his singles matches at the United Cup in straight sets, with none of his opponents winning more than four games in a set. The Norwegian also toppled Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor and Croatian Borna Coric. 

In the only previous Mannarino-Ruud Lexus ATP Head2Head clash, the Frenchman triumphed 6-4, 6-2 at the 2019 Rolex Paris Masters. But the lefty, who stymies many ATP Tour stalwarts with his flat groundstrokes and unorthodox game, never got a chance to weave his web inside Ken Rosewall Arena.

Ruud served well, winning 88 per cent of his first-serve points according to Infosys ATP Stats. The No. 11 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings hit 10 aces and did not face a break point.

Garcia narrowly escaped becoming the victim of a big upset in the United Cup quarter-finals, holding off No. 544-ranked Malene Helgo 6-2, 6-7(6), 7-6(5) in 2 hours and 33 minutes despite missing a match point in the second-set tiebreak. As a result, France has an early 1-0 lead over Norway.

"It was a crazy match. Malene was a player I didn’t know but she just hit the ball so well," Garcia said. "I went through all the emotions out there and I had to find a way through. Today it was almost too much, but in the end I got the point.

"It's only the third match of the season and I'm exhausted already.”

No. 20-ranked Garcia extended her unbeaten United Cup singles record to 5-0 overall. The Frenchwoman won both of the rubbers she contested on her debut in Perth last year and has gone 3-0 so far in Sydney this year. Conversely, Helgo is now 0-5 in United Cup across 2023 and 2024 despite a number of valiant performances against much higher-ranked opponents in those appearances.

Initially, Garcia seemed to have the measure of Helgo. She won the first set comfortably, winning 90 per cent of her first-serve points, breaking the Norwegian twice and wrapping it up with her third ace. Helgo, who leaked 10 unforced errors, repeatedly buckled under the pace coming from Garcia's groundstrokes.

Helgo managed to cling on in the second set, though, saving all three break points she faced to force a tie-break. There, the 24-year-old began to find a new level to steal it from 5-2 down. She won the best point of the match, nailing a forehand winner after scrambling to retrieve a Garcia lob, saved a match point with a one-two punch and closed out the set with consecutive backhand winners.

In the decider, Helgo threatened a similar resurgence. Garcia relocated her dominant form to speed out to a 4-1 lead, only to gift the break back thanks to a double fault down break point. Despite serving second, Helgo delivered clutch play to force another tie-break, where she once again cut Garcia's 4-1 lead to 6-5. But on Garcia's third match point, a Helgo return clipped the tape and sat up - and a relieved Garcia took the opportunity to put away the easy winner, her 26th of the match.