British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

indiana · Tennis legend

United Cup 2026

indiana · Tennis legend

Tsitsipas annoyingly solid from 0-30 down and holds.

Final set TB.

C'mon, Billy !!

Var · Futures level

Lost it 6-7, but what a performance from. Billy.

Ignore that still playing!

-- Edited by Var on Monday 5th of January 2026 12:46:30 PM

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Match 1: Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) WR 34 defeated Billy Harris WR 127 by 4-6 6-1 7-6(4) hmm

indiana · Tennis legend

But it's over now.

But yes what great fight ( and play! ) by Billy in that environment.

Tsitsipas wins by 4-6 6-1 7-6(4)

... as of course SC has already posted. No dropping off in 2026

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 5th of January 2026 12:52:28 PM

LordBrownof · Challenger qualifying

Pretty choked up about that. Billy played incredible. Did as instructed, executed really well. So close.

indiana · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Good win for Billy and that should be 25 ranking points for a group stage win over a player ranked 51 to 100. And pretty good looking effort by Katie.

Pity about Emma's injury issue. Now whether she plays or not, it looks less likely that we will beat Greece and advance further

Mochizuki has dropped from WR 99 to WR 110 in the latest 12/01 rankings and I see that the live-tennis rankings are only giving Billy 20 points ( the points for beating a WR 101 to 250 player ). Not sure if it will maybe be the 05/01 rankings that will still count?

indiana · Tennis legend

Out and about but I see Sakkari beat Emma by 6-3 3-6 6-1

Thought it worth a mention.

LordBrownof · Challenger qualifying

I thought that Emma looked pretty good. She dug in, won a set, but ran out of steam in the end. Sakkari has apparently had a very good off-season, came in having already played (and won) a match, and was hitting the ball harder on her already pretty impressive forehand side. Emma, by comparison, has had an injury-hit pre-season, couldn't play her last match, and hasn't played a match for nearly 3 months. So, considering all of that, she moved well, took instruction very well (and also contributed to her tactical changes), looked pretty good and competitive for the most part, and I didn't see any movement issues.

On to the next match.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Emma looked as if she was lacking match play in the first set, it was her first match for about 3 months. She attacked more in the 2nd set and it looked far more positive. Emma seemed to run out of energy in the third, it was quite a long match. That said Sakkari was playing well and made it a physical match and clearly had more energy than Emma in the 3rd set. There was no obvious sign of the foot issue holding Emma back so hopefully she will feel confident about playing in Hobart.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Out and about but I see Sakkari beat Emma by 6-3 3-6 6-1

Thought it worth a mention.

And for the sake of completeness:

Match 3: Olivia Nicholls & Neal Skupski CR 34 (25+9) defeated Despina Papamichail & Stefanos Sakellarides (GRE/GRE) CR 660 (280+380) by 6-2 3-6 [10-4] smile

indiana · Tennis legend

Anyone been doing or see any maths re the chances of getting into the QFs? Best 2 RUs join the 6 group winners.

GB has won 1 out of 2 ties. 3 matches won, 3 lost.

On the face of it odds against but I haven't looked elsewhere or gone into sets etc.( hope Liv and Neal dropping a set in both their wins is not costly ).

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Anyone been doing or see any maths re the chances of getting into the QFs? Best 2 RUs join the 6 group winners.

GB has won 1 out of 2 ties. 3 matches won, 3 lost.

On the face of it odds against but I haven't looked elsewhere or gone into sets etc.( hope Liv and Neal dropping a set in both their wins is not costly ).

Looks like we are out as two second placed teams beat our record according to wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_Cup

Lambda · Top national player

indiana wrote:
indiana wrote:
Good win for Billy and that should be 25 ranking points for a group stage win over a player ranked 51 to 100. And pretty good looking effort by Katie.

Pity about Emma's injury issue. Now whether she plays or not, it looks less likely that we will beat Greece and advance further
Mochizuki has dropped from WR 99 to WR 110 in the latest 12/01 rankings and I see that the live-tennis rankings are only giving Billy 20 points ( the points for beating a WR 101 to 250 player ). Not sure if it will maybe be the 05/01 rankings that will still count?

The ATP media notes say its the opponent's ranking on 22 December that determines ATP points. Mochizuki was ranked 100 then.

indiana · Tennis legend

Thanks Lambda. So WR 100 would just speak the 25 ranking points for Billy.