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United Cup: Harriet Dart clinches win for Great Britain over Australia as Dan Evans suffers defeat
Harriet Dart beats Maddison Inglis in straight sets while Dan Evans suffers a shock defeat to Jason Kubler as Great Britain wrapped up a victory over Australia in Group D of the United Cup on Friday.
Harriet Dart sealed victory for Great Britain over Australia at the United Cup as she beat Maddison Inglis in straight sets on Friday.
Dart prevailed 6-4, 6-4 in 92 minutes against Inglis, who was called up following the withdrawal Ajla Tomljanovic due to a knee injury, to follow up victories for Cameron Norrie and Katie Swan on day one in rounding off the team win.
Dart won 83 per cent of her first serve points and was broken just once before converting her first match point with an ace.
Dan Evans meanwhile fell to Jason Kubler in a 6-3 7-6 (7-3) defeat in his singles rubber before he and Dart were later beaten by Sam Stosur and John Peers 7-6 (4) 6-4 in the mixed doubles match.
Britain, who are top of Group D after the 3-2 victory, can clinch a spot in the semi-finals with victory over Spain at the weekend but they go in as underdogs against a team that boasts three top-20 players in Rafael Nadal, Pablo Carreno Busta and Paula Badosa.
The inaugural United Cup has teams from 18 countries competing in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney through to January 4. The three city champions and the next-best performing country from the group stage will meet at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney from January 6 to 8 to determine the winner.
Elsewhere, the United States sealed a 3-0 team win over Czech Republic as Tomas Machac retired hurt during the second set of his match against Frances Tiafoe, who had claimed the opening set 6-3 but been trailing 4-2 at the time of hos opponent's withdrawal.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova had saved seven set points to beat world No. 3 Jessica Pegula 7-6 (6), 6-4 in the first match on Friday to keep the Czechs in with a chance of victory.
Greece lived up to its top billing by beating Bulgaria 3-0 in Perth, Maria Sakkari adding to wins for Stefanos Tsitsipas over Grigor Dimitrov and Despina Papamichail over Isabella Shinikova by beating Viktoriya Tomova 6-3, 6-2.
Matteo Berrettini made a good start to his season to help give Italy a 3-2 win over Brazil in Brisbane as he overcame Brazilian No. 1 Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 7-6 (7) to give his country a 2-1 lead, before Lucia Bronzetti clinched the Group E encounter when she beat Laura Pigossi 6-0, 6-2.
Switzerland won 3-0 after Stan Wawrinka beat Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-3, 7-6 (3) and France later secured a 3-0 win over Argentina at Perth.