Taylor Fritz’s shock defeat to Sebastián Báez does not stop Coco Gauff and U.S. at United Cup – The Athletic
Don’t over-analyze the first match of any player’s tennis season. For most players, Australia is a long way from home, after weeks away from the match court. The air in Sydney and Perth, the two venues for the curtain-raising United Cup, has the taste of iron from all the rust on bodies and rackets.
Still, world No. 6 Taylor Fritz and his U.S. teammate, world No. 3 Coco Gauff, wouldn’t have expected to find themselves 0-1 down in their first round-robin tie against Argentina. But Sebastián Báez, the world No. 45 who had played Fritz five times without winning a set before Saturday, stunned the American 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to leave Gauff with it all to do against Solana Sierra, the world No. 65.
Fritz appeared to be cruising when he broke Báez, a fixture of the ATP top 50 who is most at home on clay, in the 10th game of the first set to win it. When he broke again to lead 6-4, 2-0, the match appeared over. But Báez, who upset Jaume Munar of Spain in his country’s opening round-robin match, refused to go away. After breaking back immediately, and saving a break point in the sixth game of the second set, he again stole the American’s serve to go from 2-0 to 4-3.
Fritz reeled him in. 5-5. Báez broke again. 6-5. And then he sealed the second set, before breaking Fritz for a fourth time down the stretch in the third set, going on to win the match and putting the U.S. up against it. This was his second hard-court victory of 2026; in 2025, he won four matches on the surface all year.
Fritz served 23 aces to Báez’s four and won far more first-serve points than his opponent, but he was too vulnerable behind his own second serve and too passive against that of Báez. When Fritz did create break points, Báez produced his best under pressure, saving eight of 11.
After the match, Fritz told reporters that a difficult off-season had left him undercooked — and sounded a warning note for the rest of his season.
“I spent the majority — pretty much the entirety — of the off-season trying to rehab my knee tendinopathy, but that’s a thing that takes months and months to get better,” he said.
“I didn’t get to play a lot of points because I’m trying to not push it too hard. So, it’s just going to be a struggle of trying to get the reps in and get the points and matches in to start feeling like I’m comfortable, while still managing my knee pain, because I’m going to try to play through and keep doing the rehab while traveling and getting better.
But if that doesn’t work in a couple of months, then I am just going to have to full stop and fix it.”
Fritz and Gauff won this title last year, and while the United Cup is played in a largely fervent party atmosphere, with teammates cheering on the sidelines and fans representing all countries waving flags in the stands, it’s also the first chance players get to see where they are at to start the new season.
Gauff defeated Sierra with ease 6-1, 6-1 later on Saturday, before winning the deciding mixed doubles match with Christian Harrison. Fritz pulled out in order to manage his knee, after a loss which means little for his season but will still be a stinging start. It’s his body that will determine the longer haul.
