Pegula. Tiafoe Put United States On Brink Of United Cup Title

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Jessica Pegula and Frances Tiafoe have put the United States on the verge of claiming the inaugural United Cup trophy.

Pegula gave her country a good start against Italy with a straight-sets victory against Martina Trevisan. Tiafoe then surged through the first set against Lorenzo Musetti when the Italian retired due to a right shoulder injury.

Despite the straight-sets scoreline, the No. 1 women's singles contest was far from straightforward for the WTA World No. 3. Trevisan came out firing with an ultra-aggressive strategy, and remained committed to front-foot tennis throughout.

Pegula, normally an excellent proponent of these tactics herself, was forced onto the back foot more than usual. Though the American led 3-0 and then 4-2 in the first set, Trevisan managed to level at 4-4 after coming up with a series of fizzing forehands.

Ironically after this pattern, the set turned on a rare shot that Trevisan backed off. Serving at 4-5, 30/30, a tentative drive volley allowed Pegula to crunch a forehand of her own to reach set point. The American promptly converted it with a superb backhand winner down the line.

Pegula settled in the second set, reducing her unforced error tally from 17 to seven while eliciting mistakes from Trevisan with canny court craft. Trevisan's do-or-die approach ultimately didn't pay off as the WTA World No. 27 racked up 31 unforced errors against 14 winners.

Trevisan went down swinging, finding another sequence of crowd-pleasing winners to cut Pegula's 5-0 lead to 5-2. But Pegula remained solid to close out the second set in an identical manner to the first: with a pinpoint backhand down the line.

Tiafoe picked up where Pegula left off, breaking Musetti's serve early and cruising through the opener 6-2, saving all three break points he faced. The Italian increasingly touched his right shoulder as the set wore on before receiving treatment from a physio during a changeover. At the end of the set, Musetti shook hands with Tiafoe and retired.

Play will then continue in the evening session, when Taylor Fritz will have an opportunity to seal the tie for the United States against Matteo Berrettini in the No. 1 men's singles match. If reigning BNP Paribas Open champion Fritz is unable to triumph, Madison Keys will have an opportunity to clinch the trophy against Lucia Bronzetti in the No. 2 women's singles clash.

If the Italians make a massive comeback, the fifth match of the tie will be a deciding mixed doubles.

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