SYDNEY — Taylor Fritz broke Jiri Lehecka‘s serve in the ninth game of the second set and went on to beat the Czech player 6-3, 6-4 to give the United States a 1-0 lead in its United Cup mixed teams match on Thursday.
Madison Keys played Marie Bouzkova in the following Group C match at Ken Rosewall Arena in an attempt to give the U.S. a 2-0 lead after the opening day.
Two singles matches — one men’s and one women’s — will be played over each of two days, with a mixed doubles to conclude the five-match tie on the second day.
The U.S. is the third-seeded team in the tournament and also features world No. 3 Jessica Pegula and men’s No. 19 Frances Tiafoe. The Czech Republic is seeded 14th.
The inaugural United Cup has teams from 18 countries competing in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney through Jan. 4. The three city champions and the next-best performing country from the group stage will meet at Ken Rosewall Arena from Jan. 6 to 8 to determine the overall winner.
Top-seeded Greece is led by world No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas and No. 6-ranked woman Maria Sakkari. World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and No. 11 Hubert Hurkacz will lead second-seeded Poland.
Rafael Nadal will team with world No. 13 Paula Badosa for Spain, while Italy will have world No. 16 Matteo Berrettini and Martina Trevisan.
Each host city will feature two groups of three countries competing in a round-robin format.
Among other matches on Thursday’s opening day, it’s Italy vs. Brazil in a day Group E match and Switzerland vs. Kazakhstan at night in Group B at Brisbane. At Perth, Greece plays Bulgaria in Group A and France plays Argentina later in a night Group F match.