{"id":34365,"date":"2026-01-03T12:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T12:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34365"},"modified":"2026-01-03T12:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T12:04:17","slug":"greece-argentina-make-winning-starts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34365","title":{"rendered":"Greece, Argentina make winning starts"},"content":{"rendered":"
Stefanos Tsitsipas found his winning touch on his return to action from injury as he led Greece to a 3-0 win over Japan on Friday in group play at the ATP-WTA United Cup.<\/p>\n

The former world number three dispatched Shintaro Mochizuki 6-3, 6-4 in singles as he played his first match in almost four months after a recurring back injury forced him to take a break from the sport.<\/p>\n

“I’ve had a lot of uncertainty, I didn’t know if I could compete,” Tsitsipas said. “But to play at this level is something I’m very grateful for.<\/p>\n

“I’m healthy and that’s the most important thing in the world. I hope this tournament can give me some confidence before the Australian Open (January 18-February 1),” added the 27-year-old two-time Grand Slam finalist.<\/p>\n

Team-mate Maria Sakkari began the tie with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Naomi Osaka.<\/p>\n

Japan’s former world number one is suffering with a head cold and played far from her best in Perth.<\/p>\n

“I was not operating at the percent I would want, I did not play amazing,” the four-time Grand Slam champion said.<\/p>\n

“Honestly, it was not a bad first match for what it was. I’m thankful I have another to play. I need to not be afraid of making mistakes.”<\/p>\n

Tsitsipas and Sakkari then teamed up for Greece’s dead-rubber mixed doubles tie to beat Japanese duo Yasutaka Uchiyama and Nao Hibino 6-2, 6-3.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Sebastian Baez and Solana Sierra led Argentina to a 3-0 defeat of Spain.<\/p>\n

World number 45 Baez got Argentina on the scoreboard with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jaume Munar, earning a surprise win on hard court after just three victories in nine matches on the surface last season.<\/p>\n

The South Americans clinched the win when 66th-ranked tournament debutante Sierra held her nerve for a 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 defeat of Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, said: “I knew I had to be tough. I’m super-happy with my level.”<\/p>\n

Argentina then won the mixed doubles rubber in straight sets.<\/p>\n

Ties at the United Cup comprise one men’s and one women’s singles and a mixed doubles, with group winners in each host city — Perth and Sydney — advancing to the quarter-finals along with the best runners-up.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stefanos Tsitsipas found his winning touch on his return to action from injury as he led Greece to a 3-0 win over Japan on Friday in group play at the ATP-WTA United Cup. The former world number three dispatched Shintaro Mochizuki 6-3, 6-4 in singles as he played his first match in almost four months […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}