Coco Gauff has issued a frightening warning to her rivals after steering Team USA into the United Cup quarter-finals for a third straight year.
Straight-set singles victories for Gauff and Taylor Fritz plus an equally emphatic mixed doubles triumph from the all-star pairing earned the Americans a 3-0 sweep over Croatia in Perth on Tuesday.
Champions two years ago, Team USA topped Group A and will return to RAC Arena on Wednesday night to face China for a semi-final berth.
The stars and stripes dream team are hot favourites to go all the way after living up to their top-seeded billing.
Fresh off his finest season yet, when he reached his maiden grand slam final at the US Open and also lost to world No.1 Jannik Sinner in the ATP Finals decider, the fourth-ranked Fritz blasted past Borna Coric 6-3 6-2 to seal the USA's passage to the last eight.
Gauff followed up with a vengeful 6-4 6-2 win over Donna Vekic as Croatia finished the tournament empty-handed after also losing their opening tie to Canada.
Fritz and Gauff then underlined the Americans' title favouritism, needing just an hour to see off Ivan Dodig and Petra Marcinko 6-2 6-3 in the mostly meaningless mixed match.
World No.3 Gauff lost to Vekic at the Paris Olympics before the Croat wound up with a silver medal but was no match for Gauff in their rematch.
"Really happy with how I played today," Gauff said.
"She's a great player. The Olympics loss hurt so I definitely was thinking about it just as motivation to do better and I'm happy to send my team through."
Still only 20, Gauff is already a grand slam champion and finished the 2024 regular season in stunning fashion, adding the WTA Finals crown to the China Open title she won a month earlier.
But she's not content.
In an ominous warning ahead of next month's Australian Open at Melbourne Park, Gauff declared her New Year's resolution to "just do better" in 2025.
Group C winners Kazakhstan will take on defending champions Germany, who topped Group E, in the first Cup quarter-final in Perth on Wednesday morning.
