Selected universal experimental properties of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cuprates have been singled out in the last decade. One of the pivotal challenges in this field is the designation of a consistent interpretation framework within which we can describe quantitatively the universal features of those systems. Here we analyze in a detailed manner the principal experimental data and compare them quantitatively with the approach based on a single-band model of strongly correlated electrons supplemented with strong antiferromagnetic (super)exchange interaction (the so-called t−J−U model). The model rationale is provided by estimating its microscopic parameters on the basis of the three-band approach for the Cu-O plane. We use our original full Gutzwiller wave-function solution by going beyond the renormalized mean-field theory (RMFT) in a systematic manner. Our approach reproduces very well the observed hole doping (δ) dependence of the kinetic-energy gain in the superconducting phase, one of the principal non-Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer features of the cuprates. The calculated Fermi velocity in the nodal direction is practically δ-independent and its universal value agrees very well with that determined experimentally. Also, a weak doping dependence of the Fermi wave vector leads to an almost constant value of the effective mass in a pure superconducting phase which is both observed in experiment and reproduced within our approach. An assessment of the currently used models (t−J, Hubbard) is carried out and the results of the canonical RMFT as a zeroth-order solution are provided for comparison to illustrate the necessity of the introduced higher-order contributions.