First day of United Cup Semifinals was under the sign of an absolute hit clash against WTA ranking Iga Swiatek and world number 3 Jessica Pegula. The latest history of matchups against Swiatek and Pegula made to think, that Pole is a clear favorite after winning all of her 4 encounters with Pegula in previous season. It was not the same story this time, once Swiatek started the match with shockingly poor serving performance, losing three own service games after the kick-off. Swiatek couldn't find her rythm, quite the opposite of Pegula who was feeling herself really confident in this quick-surface court conditions, hitting the winners against lacklustre Swiatek. The American has beaten up Swiatek 6-2 6-2 after brilliant performance and sending a huge statement about her form ahead of upcoming Australian Open. The situation in tie is comfortable for US team, once Frances Tiafoe gave no chance Kacper Zuk in easy two sets. Taylor Fritz will stay in front a chance of advancing his team to the final in case of win against Hubert Hurkacz. Magda Linette who has not failed in last 10 national team competition matches for Poland will try to repeat her November's win from Glasgow's BJK Cup finals against Madison Keys.
Another semifinal between Italy and Greece did not foreshadow such a cracking show, which was delivered by Martina Trevisan and Maria Sakkari. The Italian, who is not known from her brilliant hard-court performances, was an underdog against world no. 6 - Maria Sakkari. The Italian has surprised all the spectators with a mix of stunning forehands and passing shots, while Sakkari was clearly not on her day with just 50% first serve accuracy and not finding the solution to take control of the match on her own as expected. We could saw a few breaks from both sides and a plot twists which took the match on the distance. There it was Trevisan who prevailed her favorized opponent in decisive games and commited a huge upset. The Italian has never won against top 50 (!) player on hard-court in her career before. Italians are clearly comfortable after Lorenzo Musetti giving no chance for Stefanos Sakellaridis.
