Bouzas Maneiro’s Breakout Continues with Gauff Upset
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro rides her 2025 surge into the United Cup, dismantling Coco Gauff’s unbeaten streak and handing Spain an early edge in a tense team clash.
In the charged atmosphere of RAC Arena, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro picked up right where her breakout 2025 left off, stunning World No. 4 Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-0 to give Spain a 1-0 lead over the United States in the United Cup. The Spaniard, who climbed to a career-high No. 40 ranking last year with a fourth-round run at Wimbledon and her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal in Montreal, turned national pressure into pure propulsion on these Perth hardcourts.
Bouzas Maneiro broke Gauff right out of the gate, surging to a 5-0 lead by pouncing on tentative serves with deep crosscourt returns that forced errors. Her forehand sliced through the air with heavy topspin, landing 11 winners that stretched the American wide and disrupted any rhythm. Gauff, who had dominated 6-0 in United Cup singles and 9-0 overall entering the match, couldn’t find her footing as Bouzas Maneiro converted all four service games in the opener.
“I know Coco and she’s a fighter,” Bouzas Maneiro said after the match. “She’s there all the time in the match, so I knew that I had to be there, and even if I’m 4-1 up, I have to be there. And yeah, she won the second set and I went to the bathroom and I was trying to focus just to take it point by point. “And that was my mentality in the third set. To be [there] with power every point because even if you are [up] 3-0 or 4-0, you have to be ready.”
Breaks expose Gauff’s serving woes
The hardcourt skid amplified Bouzas Maneiro’s aggressive returns, where she crept forward on second serves to chip away at Gauff’s confidence. Gauff landed just 60% of her first serves, winning under 60% of those points, and her 14 double faults turned potential holds into quick concessions—nine breaks overall for the Spaniard. This marked a sharp turn from Gauff’s earlier straight-sets win over Argentina’s Solana Sierra, where her 1–2 punch had overwhelmed from the baseline.
Bouzas Maneiro matched Gauff’s first-serve percentage but kept her unforced errors to 41, converting 9 of 12 break points with probing depth that neutralized power. The crowd’s energy shifted as Spanish flags waved higher, sensing the underdog’s grip tightening on a surface that rewarded precision over raw speed. Gauff’s 54 unforced errors piled up, many from overhitting against Bouzas Maneiro’s steady inside-out forehands that pinned her deep.
Tiebreak rally tests resilience
Trailing 4-1 in the second, Gauff dug in with sharper crosscourt angles, forcing Bouzas Maneiro into defensive slices and lobs during longer exchanges. She seized the tiebreak 7-3 by varying her placement, momentarily flipping the momentum as the arena’s American contingent roared back to life. Yet Bouzas Maneiro’s composure held, her low underspin returns disrupting Gauff’s rhythm and preventing clean down-the-line passes.
A quick bathroom break after the set allowed the Spaniard to reset, emerging with renewed focus on point-by-point intensity. This mental pivot, built from the grind of 2025’s rising schedule, kept her from unraveling under the pressure of her first Top-5 clash. Gauff’s fight exposed the fine margins of elite tennis, but it couldn’t bridge the tactical gap widening on these fast courts.
Decider delivers bagel redemption
Bouzas Maneiro broke to start the third, then battled through a five-deuce hold at 1-1, saving two break points with precise inside-in forehands that kissed the line. She raced to 4-0, feeding off the shifting crowd energy as Gauff’s shoulders dropped amid the mounting deficit. In 2 hours and 12 minutes, the Spaniard sealed a third-set bagel, flipping the script from her own blanking by Sierra earlier in the tournament.
This victory, Bouzas Maneiro’s first over a Top-5 player, not only ended Gauff’s perfect United Cup record but amplified Spain’s momentum heading into the men’s singles between Taylor Fritz and Jaume Munar. The upset underscores how tactical adjustments—like varying spin and return depth—can turn rankings into reality on unforgiving hardcourts. As the tie unfolds, Bouzas Maneiro’s blueprint promises to influence the team’s path forward in 2026.
