World No.3 Coco Gauff was made to work by China's Zhang Shuai but the 20-year-old American prevailed 7-6(4), 6-2 to give Team USA the early lead in the United Cup quarterfinals in Perth.
United Cup: Scores | Draws | Order of Play
Champions of the United Cup two years ago, USA is looking to join Kazakhstan on the cross-country flight to compete in the semifinals in Sydney. Taylor Fritz can punch that ticket when he faces Zhang Zhizhen in the second singles rubber.
Gauff extended her perfect United Cup debut with a gritty effort in the first set to come from a break down three times to upend Zhang's inspired play. The 35-year-old veteran stepped into singles after China's surprise hero during the group stage, Gao Xinyu, was forced to stand down due to injury.
With her flat groundstrokes and aggressive baseline positioning, Zhang kept Gauff pinned behind the baseline with her depth of shot. She confidently broke Gauff in the first game of the match but, as would be her undoing in the opening set, failed to consolidate her break. Zhang broke Gauff three ties in the opening set, but was broken back each time, including as she served for the set at 6-5.
"The harder I hit, the harder she was hitting," Gauff said. "I felt like I couldn't get her on defense. She was playing so aggressive on me and I felt like I had to go more on my second serves, which brought in more double faults, but if I just put it in it was a return winner. So I had to take my chances."
Having reeled Zhang in, Gauff played an outstanding tiebreak to seal the set after 59 minutes, striking a perfect lob winner to set up her set points. Gauff took her momentum into the second set, racing out to a 3-0 lead and protecting her serve to close out the hard-fought win after 1 hour and 34 minutes. With the victory, Gauff improved her record against Zhang to 3-0.
"Against Shuai, I had to hit an ace to win the point," Gauff said. "She was playing amazing tennis out there. Dennis [Kudla] was saying I digged it out and that's what it felt like. I was literally on the ground for most of the match."