A Winning Beginning For Team Canada At United Cup

Team Canada
Victoria Mboko and Felix Auger-Aliassime (photo: Tennis Australia/Ben Symons)

SYDNEY/WASHINGTON, January 4, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

Team Canada swept its way to an impressive 3-0 triumph over China at the United Cup in Sydney Sunday evening. It was a confidence builder for both World No. 5 Felix Auger-Aliassime and his teammate, World No. 18 Victoria Mboko. Not only did each win their first singles match of the new season, they also played mixed doubles together for the first time and came away from it with a satisfying straight-set victory.

“I can be very pleased with this first match of the year,” Auger-Aliassime said during his on-court interview, after his 6-4, 6-4 victory against former No. 31 Zhang Zhizhen of China. “You never know when you haven’t played for a month-and- a-half or a bit more. Tennis is also about rhythm, playing important points under pressure – with the crowd – so you never know what to expect. I woke up this morning hoping for the best – visualizing the best – and then I played some of my best tennis.”

Indeed, Auger-Aliassime dropped just five points on his first serve, saved the only break point he faced, hit 13 winners, broke his Zhang twice and outpointed his opponent 62-48 during the one-hour and 27-minute tussle.

Although it may be difficult to gauge success on the basis of just one match, Auger-Aliassime is showing no signs of letting up from his successful finish to the 2025 season, in which he reached the semifinals of the US Open, won an ATP 250 indoor title at Brussels and reached the last four at the year-end Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. Auger-Aliassime finished the year with a 50-24 win-loss record – 41 of the wins came on hard courts – and collected three titles.

“I’m feeling good,” said Auger-Aliassime, who also won crowns at Adelaide and Montpellier and finished 2025 with a career-best ranking of No. 5.

Earlier, Mboko came from a set down to defeat 168th-ranked Zhu Lin, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, in one hour and 39 minutes in her United Cup debut. It was the 19-year-old Canadian’s sixth consecutive victory on the WTA Tour, after ending last season with a five-match winning streak that included collecting her second WTA Tour title in Hong Kong.

Afterward, Mboko and Auger-Aliassime teamed in mixed doubles and defeated China’s You Xiaodi and Te Rigele, 6-1, 6-3, to complete the 3-0 sweep.

Canada tops Group B with a 1-0 win-loss record, followed by China at 1-1. The Canadians will face Belgium (0-1) Tuesday afternoon to complete group play. A win will advance Canada to the quarterfinal round.

“Really happy because it’s the first match of the year for both of us, first time playing mixed doubles. There’s a lot of firsts. With that comes a lot of uncertainty also, right?” said Auger-Aliassime during his team’s post-tie news conference. The 25-year-old Montreal native is also acting as Canada’s team captain in the absence of original team captain Gabriela Dabrowski, who injured her foot in training and was unable to travel to Australia.

“Obviously, she had a very strong year. I had a strong year. There’s a bit of a break. You don’t know how you’re going to feel when you step on the court. You’re hoping for the best.

“Today, I think in many moments it was close to our best. Happy with a 3-0 win, for sure.”

Mboko said at the beginning of her match against the 31-year-old Zhu, she felt a “little bit” off, getting used to the court, getting used to the balls. “I’m glad that I kind of found my way in the match, found some sort of momentum to kind of change the match around.

“Once I kind of got my groove, did what I was usually used to, then I found that I was a bit more myself in a way.”

After a team outing to the Sydney Zoo earlier in the week, what did Mboko think of her first-time experience playing mixed doubles, especially with Auger-Aliassime?

“The one thing I noticed is you’re playing with a guy on the other side, or having Felix serve, the points are a lot short,” she said. “I mean, it’s just a lot more quicker rallies. You kind of have to have fast hands. You don’t really see the ball as much as women’s tennis.

“Yeah, it was a pretty cool experience. To start the year off playing this kind of format that I’m not used to, it’s really stepping me out of my boundaries. I like it. I had a lot of fun today.”

Germany 3, Netherlands 0

In Group F action at Sydney, Germany’s 40th-ranked Eva Lys set the table with her 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 89 Suzan Lamens, in which she capitalized on six breaks of her opponent’s serve during their one-hour, 39-minute skirmish. Then, World No. 3 Alexander Zverev clinched Germany’s victory over the Netherlands by defeating No. 26 Tallon Griekspoor, 7-5, 6-0, after firing 15 aces and converting all four of his serve-break opportunities. Zverev dropped just seven points in the second set.

“The first set, it was tough to get rhythm,” Zverev said in his on-court interview after recording his first win of 2026. “Once I got the chances, I did well and I’m very happy with the win.

“I think my serve was all right, to be honest,” he added. “Everything else was difficult to judge because there wasn’t many long rallies, there wasn’t really much rhythm, but a win is a win.”

Zverev returned to play mixed doubles with Laura Siegemund and the German duo beat Dutch pair Griekspoor and Demi Schuurs, 6-3, 6-2.

During his team’s post-tie news conference, Zverev said Team Germany was “very happy” to win every match in straight sets. “Tallon for me is very difficult. The mixed doubles is very, very good. Happy to start the way we did.”

Lys called her team’s 3-0 triumph “the best outcome I could have imagined.” On her own play, she added: “Very happy with how I played.

”It was really hot on the center court, but I think we both managed pretty well. Yeah, I think it’s a perfect start for [the] whole Team Germany, also with Sascha’s match and the mixed doubles. So, we’re all happy.”

Great Britain 2, Japan 1

On a rollercoaster day in Perth that began with Emma Raducanu’s withdrawal from her match against World No. 16 Naomi Osaka, Great Britain’s mixed doubles duo of Olivia Nicholls and Neal Skupski stepped up and held their nerve. They had to – or else lose the tie for the British. Nicholls and Skupski secured a 7-5, 4-6, 10-7 victory over Japan’s Nao Hibino and Yasutaka Uchiyama in an hour and 46 minutes to secure a 2-1 tie victory for the British in their United Cup Opener in Perth.

“Unbelievable. We had amazing support from the crowd,” Nicholls said during her team’s on-court interview afterward. “I’ve actually got family here who I’m staying with in Perth this week which is making it even more special. We’ve had amazing team spirit this week. I’ve really enjoyed being part of this team, so it’s just incredible to get the win.”

The British (1-0) will face Greece (1-0) Monday evening with the winner advancing to the quarterfinal round. Japan, making its United Cup debut, finished Group E play 0-2.

The 29th-ranked Raducanu was scratched from her singles match with Osaka due to an ongoing foot injury, according to team captain Tim Henman, and replaced by 26-year-0ld Katie Swan, a four-time champion on the ITF World Tennis Tour last season. Osaka beat Swan, 7-6 (4), 6-1, in one hour and 53 minutes for her first United Cup win and the first in Team Japan’s history. She outpointed Swan 80-58.

“I think for me it’s been fun. I’ve always waned to play and I’ve wanted to see what it’s about,” Osaka said of her United Cup experience. “Just to be here with this team was really incredible. Like I feel like I made a lot of really good memories for the start of the year. 

“Honestly, I had a lot of fun cheering on the bench. Like it was really cool. Yeah, I just enjoyed it a lot. So, I’m thankful.”

Great Britain’s Billy Harris gave his team an early lead after defeating 99th-ranked Shintaro Mochizuki, 7-6 (4), 6-3, in one hour and 50 minutes.

“Great atmosphere. … It got me through the match,” said the 128th-ranked Harris during his on-court interview. “A lot of Brits out here. Great to get the first win for the team. Some shaky bits in there, but I managed to close it out there in the end, so I was happy with that.”

Then, after Osaka leveled the tie at 1-1, it was on the mixed doubles decider. Nicholls and Skupski outpointed their Japanese opponents 69-64 to clinch the tie.

“The team from start to finish today were absolutely brilliant,” Henman said during his Team Great Britain’s post-tie news conference. “From my point of view, I wanted them to come in and compete for every ball and compete for every point, play with the right attitude. There wasn’t one point today they didn’t do that.

“I thought the quality of all the matches were first class. This is why they put in the hard work on the practice court, in the gym, to give themselves the opportunity to show their skills on an amazing stage like that.

“Yeah, I couldn’t be happier. Couldn’t be more proud of each and every one of them.“

Switzerland 2, Italy 1

Sunday evening’s Switzerland-Italy tie in Perth came down a deciding mixed doubles rubber between Belinda Bencic and Jakub Paul against the more experienced Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, the reigning US Open champions. A Swiss victory would advance them into the quarterfinal round with an undefeated (2-0) record – and what a performance Bencic and Paul gave. They won 7-5, 4-6, 10-7 in an hour and 49 minutes.

At 9-7 with match point, Bencic struck one last forehand return on the ninth shot of a back-and-forth rally that Errani netted. It gave Switzerland an improbable tie victory against a nation that last year thrived in team competition by winning both the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup competitions.

While Bencic and her Swiss teammates jumped for joy in celebration and danced in circles by their team bench, Italy (0-1) will need to beat France (0-1) on Tuesday in order to have a chance to advance to the last eight among the three second-place teams from among Groups A, C and E in Perth.

“Without [Jakub], we couldn’t have won,” Bencic said on-court after helping secure both of Switzerland’s two points against Italy. “It was awesome, great vibes. Of course, great emotions from the team. We were into it with our hearts and I think it really shows.”

The 26-year-old Paul, ranked 81st in doubles, called it one of the biggest matches of his career. “It was very exciting to play, a lot of pressure to play for the country,” he said. “But an honor, too. I’m really happy I had Belinda by my side. She has a lot of experience in these matches and it really showed.”

Earlier, World No. 11 Bencic gave Switzerland a 1-0 lead after she beat World No. 8 Jasmine Paolini, 6-4, 6-3, in one hour and 58 minutes on RAC Arena in Group C play. The Swiss No. 1 converted six of 17 break-point chances and outpointed Paolini 81-67 for her second-straight United Cup victory. The win leveled their career tour-level head-to-head at 2-all.

“I’m really happy with today’s match,” Bencic said in her on-court interview. “I lost to her really close at the end of last season. I really had to organize my mind that ‘now it’s my time, I can do it.’ I thought it was a bit mental today.”

Then, it was a battle of generations during the men’s singles contest between 23-year-old Flavio Cobolli of Italy and 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland. Needing a win in order to remain alive in the tie and send it to a deciding mixed doubles rubber, Cobolli handled the pressure and withstood the spirited charge of the three-time major champion from Switzerland. Cobolli prevailed over Wawrinka, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (4), in a match that lasted two hours and 50 minutes.

Both players struck eight aces and Wawrinka won 80 percent of his first-serve points. Cobolli didn’t face any break points. By the end, Wawrinka was ahead on total points 103-102, but it wasn’t enough to pull out his second-straight win in Perth, after defeating France’s Arthur Rinderknech in three sets that stretched more than three hours on Saturday.

Cobolli said during his team’s recent pre-tournament news conference that after being part of Italy’s winning Davis Cup team, he’s a more confident player. “Now I’m more confident on my tennis, for sure. But yeah, the season is different. Now is time to be focused and start well because last year I didn’t.”

Sunday’s United Cup results

Monday’s United Cup schedule

By the numbers

Stan Wawrinka is tied with Rafael Nadal for fourth place all-time among men’s players for most seasons with a tour-level singles win in the Open Era. With his three-set win over Arthur Rinderknech of France on Saturday, Wawrinka has won at least one tour-level singles match in 23 different seasons (2003, 2005-2026). Jimmy Connors is the all-time leader with 25 followed by Roger Federer and Richard Gasquet with 24 each.

“Quotable …”

“It’s nice that he was able to kind of talk me through the match. Whatever I was able to pick up, I tried to use it to the best of my abilities. I really liked having him being there.”

– Victoria Mboko of Canada, during her team’s post-tie news conference, describing the on-court coaching she received from Felix Auger-Aliassime.

 

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