For this first edition of the United Cup, which brought together 18 nations and which is being played simultaneously in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney, France, beaten on Tuesday by Croatia (3-1), stopped in the first phase. of hens, after two meetings.
Back to the wall after a failed Monday, which saw the defeats of Alizé Cornet (36th WTA) and Arthur Rinderknech (44th ATP), respectively against Donna Vekic, 67th (6-4, 6- 3) and Borna Coric, 26th (7-6 [1]7-6 [2]), France no longer had the right to make mistakes and this meeting had become a best-of-five match on Tuesday where it was necessary to go up a handicap from two sets to nothing, to steal in extremis the qualification for the final of Perth , against the Greece of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari.
Garcia does the job
Caroline Garcia was the first to light the fuse of the rebellion, by disposing of Petra Martic (38th WTA), not without having to dig deep to resist, especially in a first round during which she had to save two break points and dismiss a set point, at 6-7 in the tie break.
Incisive in forehand, whose average speed of 124 km/h is very impressive, the world n°4 then saved two balls from 0-2 in the second set before taking the service of the Croatian at 1-1 and not never again be worried about your commitments (7-6 [9]6-4 and 1h53). “Throughout the match, I managed to stay calm, focused on what I wanted to do.summed up the French n°1. I was able to let go of my mistakes, continue to be aggressive and get the points. I’m really happy with my attitude. »
All that remained for Adrian Mannarino (46th) was to beat Borna Gojo (144th) to offer this meeting a decisive mixed doubles. In this duel where the servers began to walk around (only two out of twelve games, in the first set, saw the receiver reach 30), the first set was decided on the very good end of the Croatian tie-break, author of a return of winning forehand and an ace, from 5 points everywhere.
Mannarino beaten despite a break in the third set
Not knocked out, however, the French n°2 then showed himself to be more and more solid, while Gojo did not manage to remain as constant as in the first set. Diligent and almost boosted, Mannarino dominated the next two sets quite clearly, until leading 5-3 in the third set, a moment chosen by Gojo to suddenly restore a lot of intensity in his forehand, to the point of unhorsing the Frenchman. A break for the Croatian, then three match points (and encounter) at 6-5 on opposing service, all well saved by Mannarino. At 6-6, the French completely missed his start to the decisive tie-break (1-5) and did not recover enough. He saved two new match points but ended up losing on a final winning smash from Gojo (7-6 [5]3-6, 7-6 [5] and 2h50).
Croatia will face Greece on Wednesday in Perth. The other two “city finals” will oppose Great Britain to the United States, in Sydney, and Poland to Italy, in Brisbane. The three winners and the “best loser” will qualify for the semi-finals, scheduled in Sydney on January 6 and 7.
