US Open semifinalists Tiafoe, Pegula to join forces for World Team Tennis

The Associated Press ·
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 03: Frances Tiafoe and Jessica Pegula of the USA react in the Group C match against Laura Siegemund and Daniel Altmaier of Germany during day six of the 2023 United Cup at Ken Rosewall Arena on January 03, 2023 in Sydney, Australia.
Brett Hemmings / Getty Images Sport / Getty

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Open semifinalists Frances Tiafoe and Jessica Pegula will be teammates when World Team Tennis returns to open a new season in December.

Tiafoe and Pegula will play for New York Empire Racquet Club, along with fellow top American Taylor Fritz and Camila Osorio, the league announced Wednesday.

Pegula, who faces top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday, was one of the players originally announced by the league last month, along with Tommy Paul for Florida Flamingos Racquet Club and Denis Shapovalov for the Toronto North Racquet Club.

Tiafoe will face Ben Shelton on Friday in the men's semifinals.

Joining Paul are young Americans Learner Tien and Iva Jovic. The Toronto team has Canadians Leylah Fernandez, Victoria Mboko and Gabriel Diallo.

Hall of Famer Billie Jean King was one of the founders of World Team Tennis in 1974, as a way of having a mixed-gender team format for tennis.

The league will have a new match format featuring four singles sets (a men's and women's No. 1 and No. 2), and a mixed doubles super tiebreaker. Each team will start two men and two women.

Additional players will be announced in the coming weeks and the season begins with the Empire hosting the Flamingos on Dec. 1 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

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