Down to the wire: USA overcome Poland in decisive doubles

Coco Gauff and Caty McNally clinched a 2-1 win for USA against Poland with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Magda Linette and Alicja Rosolska.

On paper it should have been routine for Kathy Rinaldi’s team, but a dogged display by Poland pushed the US team all the way to a decisive doubles, which finished at 12:31 local time.

Gauff and McNally, who were both late arrivals to the women’s World Cup of Tennis with the former having competed at the WTA Finals and the latter at W125 Midland, were a class apart from their Polish opponents and needed just 47 minutes to complete a comprehensive win.

“I was really excited,” McNally said. “But Kathy kept reminding us to have fun. That’s the most important thing for both us, just to enjoy it.”

And asked whether playing late into the night was an issue for her, Gauff added: “I’m still on East Coast time zone, so this is Wednesday afternoon for me!”

The story could have been so different had Danielle Collins not produced her best tennis of the match in a third set tiebreak in the opening encounter of the tie to defeat Magdalena Frech 6-3 3-6 7-6(2) and put USA up 1-0.

Collins struck 47 winners, but she also produced almost as many unforced errors and her serve, in particular, was causing her problems throughout the duration of the match.

She credited the camaraderie in the American team for helping her to come through such a tight clash with Frech.

“It's really nice being a part of a group like this, because you feel the support all the time. It almost took some pressure off me today knowing that Maddie [Keys] was going to play after me, and then we had the doubles, as well, because we have such strong players on the team that can pull us through.

“So, it gives us so much confidence, I think, when all of us are so strong. But, yeah, we just have such a nice group. Honestly, we have so much fun together.”

The team were certainly not having fun when Linette showed why she is now on six-match winning streak in BJK Cup singles with a 6-4 4-6 6-2 victory over Keys to send the tie into a decisive doubles.

The 30-year-old always delivers her A-game when she’s playing for her country but this was her biggest win in the competition.

“I think I always knew I had the level so I knew I had to stay calm and play point by point,” she explained in her on-court interview. “I had to look for my chances, be more offensive in those moments and it worked.”

Team USA now have a day off to prepare for the last of the group stage ties against Czech Republic on Friday night, while Poland have a must-win match-up against the same team in 24 hours.