Day one at the 2025 United Cup will see China take on Brazil and Kazakhstan face Spain which will include four singles matches – two men’s and two women’s encounter. Here’s the preview, predictions and tips for these matches.
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Alexander Shevchenko v Pablo Carreno Busta Preview
Head-to-Head: Carreno-Busta won their only previous meeting in Winston-Salem in 2024.
Carreno-Busta, who had ended the 2022 season ranked 13th in the world, has fallen to 196th at the moment but a lot of that is to do with his fitness woes. It’s these very injury problems that have seen him feature in a mere 29 matches over the last two seasons combined.
As compared to that, Shevchenko had a solid 2023 which saw him rise to 45th in the world before settling in at 78th at the moment. This fall in his rankings has coincided with his poor performances in 2024.
In only four of the 35 tournaments that Shevchenko featured did he manage to register back to back wins.
What this could point to is that if Carreno-Busta can come up with any kind of form, he could prove to be a handful despite the obvious difference in their rankings.
Shevchenko v Carreno Busta prediction: Carreno Busta to win
Elena Rybakina v Jessica Bouzas Maneiro Preview
Head-to-Head: They have never played each other at any level.
Rybakina is ranked sixth in the world following a season in which she had her fitness issues but when she did play, she managed to win a few titles. Three to be exact.
Those wins came in Brisbane, Abu Dhabi and Stuttgart but in the second half of the season, Rybakina would have hoped for a better showing than she managed. She did manage a semifinal appearance at Wimbledon but was forced to pull out of the second round at US Open.
Bouzas Maneiro, however, is more of a clay-courter, having won eight of her 12 lower level tournaments on that surface. That includes her previous title which came in a WTA 125 event in Antalya in 2024.
Against a player of the quality of Rybakina on a surface outside of clay, things might not get too easy for Bouzas Maneiro.
Rybakina v Bouzas Maneiro prediction: Rybakina to win in straight sets
Gao Xinyu v Beatriz Haddad Maia Preview
Head-to-Head: Xinyu and Haddad Maia will be facing off for the first time.
Haddad Maia was expected to take on Qinwen Zheng in this encounter but has withdrawn from the competition to try and focus on the Australian Open. This gives her a very good chance to help Brazil win this tie as she takes on the 175th-ranked replacement in the form of Gao Xinyu.
Having reached a career-high ranking of 10th in the world, Haddad Maia is now perched at 17th and enters this competition on the back of a title in Seoul in 2024.
As compared to that, Xinyu is no spring chicken at 27 and has never seen the inside of the top 150 on the WTA charts. She had a decent 2024 season in which she won three ITF level titles but did not find her bearing at the highest level.
That makes a Haddad Maia a foregone thing unless the Brazilian player trips up drastically.
Xinyu v Haddad Maia prediction: Haddad Maia to win in straight sets
Zhang Zhizhen v Thiago Monteiro Preview
Head-to-Head: There has been one previous match which Zhang won on the clay courts of the Rome Masters in 2024.
While Zhang hit his career-best ranking of 31st in the world in 2024, he wasn’t able to sustain it and ended the season 45th on the charts. That could have been down to the manner in which he ended the season.
Following his entry into the final of the Hangzhou Open in September, Zhang went on a six-match losing streak which saw him win just one set. This also included a defeat in that final – his first ever appearance at a final in an ATP tournament – to Marin Cilic.
The trouble for Monteiro, however, is that he doesn’t have much of a record on hardcourt surfaces and is currently 109th on the ATP charts as a result of that. Despite featuring in a few Challenger competitions in 2024, Monteiro won just two of nine hardcourt matches.
Zhang should be able to take advantage of that.
Zhizhen v Monteiro prediction: Zhang to win in straight sets.
