On Monday in Australia, the third of three ties in each of the six round-robin groups of the inaugural United Cup will begin. The current group standings can be found here.
Day 5 provides the tournament’s most compelling Order of Play yet, headlined by Rafael Nadal taking on Australia’s Alex de Minaur, and World No.1 Iga Swiatek facing Olympic Gold Medalist Belinda Bencic.
Each day, this preview will analyze the two most prominent matches on the schedule. Monday’s play gets underway at 12:00pm local time in Sydney and Perth, and 1:00pm in Brisbane.
Rafael Nadal [ESP] vs. Alex de Minaur [AUS] – Not Before 7:00pm in Sydney
Great Britain is 2-0 in this group and has already secured advancement to the knockout stage, so Spain and Australia have been eliminated. While this is a dead rubber, it’s a highly-anticipated match, especially in Australia.
Nadal lost his opening match to Cam Norrie in a nearly three-hour, high-quality affair. He’s now lost five of his last six matches, dating back to his fourth round defeat to Frances Tiafoe at the US Open.
De Minaur also lost to Norrie, in straight sets. Alex went 47-25 last season, winning a hard court title in Atlanta.
Rafa leads their head-to-head 3-0, which includes two previous matches in Australia. Nadal prevailed in straight sets four years ago at the Australian Open, and overcame Alex 6-1 in the third three years ago in the semifinals of the ATP Cup. While Nadal’s current form does not bode well for his Australian Open title defense, and de Minaur will have a big home court advantage, Rafa remains a slight favorite to earn his first victory of the 2023 season.
Iga Swiatek [POL] vs. Belinda Bencic [SUI] – Not Before 7:00pm in Brisbane
Poland and Switzerland are both 1-0 in this group, so the country that wins this tie will advance.
Swiatek won her opening singles match over Yulia Putintseva, dropping just four games, and also prevailed in mixed doubles on Sunday alongside Hubert Hurkacz. Bencic also defeated Putintseva in straight sets.
These players have surprisingly only met twice, and they’ve split those encounters. Two years ago in the final of Adelaide, Swiatek was victorious 6-2, 6-2. Later that year in the fourth round of the US Open, Bencic won 7-6(12), 6-3. But while Belinda was a solid 42-18 in 2022, Iga’s record of 67-9 was reflective of how she took her game to a level above all her competition . And thus, Swiatek should be slightly favored in this important matchup with advancement implications.
Other Notable Matches on Monday:
Taylor Fritz [USA] vs. Sascha Zverev [GER] – This is only Zverev’s second match since his gruesome Roland Garros injury. The German lost his first match to Jiri Lehecka in straights. Fritz defeated Lehecka in straights, but is 2-4 lifetime against Zverev. The United States is 1-0, while Germany is 0-1, with both teams still having a chance to advance.
Stefanos Tsitsipas [GRE] vs. David Goffin [BEL] – Tsitsipas overcame Grigor Dimitrov in a third-set tiebreak. Goffin lost to Dimitrov in straights. Stefanos is 4-2 against David, though they haven’t played since 2019. Greece is 1-0, while Belgium is 0-1, so this is another case where both teams still have a chance to advance.
The United Cup daily schedule is here.
