Alex de Minaur’s fiancé Katie Boulter has put the world No. 9 under the pump in his quest to lift Australia into the United Cup quarter-finals with a clinical 6-2 6-1 win against Olivia Gadecki.

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Australia ideally needed to win all three sets against Great Britain to be certain of advancing out of the group stage, but De Minaur and mixed doubles pair Ellen Perez and Matthew Ebden will need to win, and win well, in the remaining matches in Sydney on Wednesday night.

Games won is the tie-breaker used to decide who finishes top of the group out of Australia, Great Britain and Argentina if the home nation can win the tie.

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Therefore, De Minaur will need to produce a dominant display in his match with world No. 125 Billy Harris to give Australia the best possible of chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.

He will be able to look to his fiancé for inspiration as Boutler, who reached a career-high ranking of 23rd in the world in November, proved far too powerful for world No. 97 Gadecki in her straight sets triumph.

Boutler’s performance which was described as “flawless” by commentator Jelena Dokic and of the quality of a top-20 player.

She also guaranteed that Great Britain will be in the quarter-finals as either top of the group or one of the best second-place finishers, and took the opportunity post-match to rub it in.

“I’d love nothing more than Australia to come second,” the 28-year-old said with a laugh.

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PREVIEW

Alex de Minaur will look to start 2025 by guiding Australia into the quarter-finals of the United Cup, but he will be cheering against his fiancé Katie Boulter in the process on Wednesday night in Sydney.

World No. 24 Boutler admitted in the lead-up to the tournament that Australia’s clash with her Great Britain put the couple in a “terrible” position, but was adamant that there will be no love lost, saying “we both want it. We both are competitive.”

The couple will not actually be on opposing sides of the net with Boutler to face 22-year-old Olivia Gadecki before De Minaur takes on world No. 125 Billy Harris.

Boulter will then team up with Charles Broom in the mixed doubles as de Minaur watches from the sidelines with Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt’s opting to play doubles specialists Ellen Perez and Matthew Ebden instead of manufacturing a couples’ showdown.

World No. 9 De Minaur needs a deep run in the United Cup to boost his chances of earning a lucrative top eight seeding at the Australian Open, but the green and gold will need to lift their game after a first up loss to Argentina on Saturday.

De Minaur registered a comfortable 6-1 6-4 win against Tomas Etcheverry upon his return to his home court of Ken Rosewall Arena, but Australia’s joy ended their with Gadecki and the mixed doubles pair tasting defeat.

It places the Australians in a similar position to last year, where they lost 2-1 to the Brits in the opening group stage game before advancing to the quarter-finals courtesy of an excellent win against the United States where De Minaur defeated current world No. 4 Taylor Fritz in straight sets.

More of the same will be needed tonight in order to ensure that the bragging rights in the De Minaur/Boulter household belong to the Australian.

Start time 5:30pm AEDT

Katie Boulter (GBR) vs. Olivia Gadecki (AUS)

Billy Harris (GBR) vs. Alex de Minaur (AUS)

Katie Boulter (GBR) / Charles Broom (GBR) vs. Ellen Perez (AUS) / Matthew Ebden (AUS)