Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz have emerged as Australian Open title threats after piloting the United States to United Cup glory in Sydney.
Fritz once again served as Team USA's ice-cool go-to man in sealing Sunday's final over Italy with a steely 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (10-8) victory over resurgent 2021 Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini.
As he did in a similarly tight semi-final triumph over Hubert Hurkacz, Fritz held his nerve in the key moments to give the US an unassailable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five tie at Ken Rosewall Arena.
The world No.9's win followed straight-sets singles successes for Pegula and Frances Tiafoe.
Utterly dominant throughout the 11-day first-time staging of the mixed-gender event, Team USA secured the trophy after winning 21 of 23 rubbers.
Tiafoe (6-0) won all five of his singles encounters as well as his lone mixed doubles match with Pegula (8-1), while Madison Keys (4-0) was also unbeaten and dropped just one set in her opening four singles outings.
In a true team effort, Fritz (7-1) also delivered as Team USA never looked like being toppled.
"It's amazing for the team to win this event," Fritz said after being crash-tackled by Tiafoe amid wild celebrations.
"We came in with really high hopes, or at least I did, for the event so I was really happy to be in that position to clinch the match.
"The emotions when you win and everyone comes running out here, it's amazing."
Fritz's clincher came after Pegula continued her hot summer to give the US a perfect start with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Martina Trevisan before Lorenzo Musetti retired with a shoulder issue after losing the first set 6-2 against Tiafoe.
The back-to-back defeats left Berrettini needing to beat Fritz to keep Italy's hopes flickering.
He couldn't, as Fritz overcame the disappointment of failing to convert nine break points to nab both tiebreakers, as he had against Poland's big-serving world No.10 Hurkacz on Saturday.
Tiafoe, who made the US Open last four in September, and Keys, a semi-final loser to eventual champion Ash Barty in Melbourne last summer, loom as AO outsiders once again when the season's first grand slam starts on January 16.
But it was Pegula and Fritz who really stepped up over the past fortnight to underline their Open credentials.
After losing her Cup opener to dual Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, Pegula won four singles and five mixed doubles matches in a row.
The world No.3's undoubted highlight was a 6-2 6-2 mauling of top-ranked Iga Swiatek in Saturday's semi-finals.
But she was equally pleased to have kept the 27th-ranked Trevisan at bay with the trophy on the line.
"Definitely very relieved," Pegula said.
"First match of the day, first match of the final and Martina's playing great.
"She's a fighter, she's competing and I feel like she's thriving off the atmosphere here with the fans and her team and it's really hard to beat someone like that."
Fritz's win over Berrettini rounded out an equally impressive campaign that also featured a straight-sets drubbing of another grand slam finalist in Alexander Zverev, and seven wins in total from eight matches.
The 25-year-old has already proven he can match it with the very best on the biggest stages.
The reigning Indian Wells champion, Fritz stretched Open titleholder Rafael Nadal to five sets in last year's Wimbledon quarter-finals and went the distance with nine-time winner Novak Djokovic at Melbourne Park in 2021.
