Poland returns to the United Cup final | ATP Tour

United Cup

Poland returns to the United Cup final

Hurkacz and Swiatek sealed the victory against Kazakhstan

January 04, 2025

After losing his first two matches of the season in singles, Hubert Hurkacz achieved his second consecutive victory in this modality this Saturday. But the most recent one has been achieved with its best version so far in the United Cup.

Without losing sets or facing breakout opportunities, the No. 16 in the PIF ATP Rankings has won 6-3, 6-2 against Alexander Shevchenko to leave the series between Poland and Kazakhstan at 1-0 in the semifinals played in Sydney.

The bitter pill of the defeats against Casper Ruud and Tomas Machac in the group stage was left behind with their victory in the quarterfinals over the British Billy Harris. Now he has been forgotten with his fastest victory so far in singles of the tournament.

“The last match here gave me a little confidence and I’ve been playing better in every match,” said Hurkacz, who hadn’t won this quickly since the 2022 ATP Cup when he beat Greek Aristotelis Thanos in 54 minutes.

The 27-year-old right-hander needed just 58 minutes this Saturday to leave his Lexus ATP HeadToHead with Shevchenko 4-0, and to leave his country one step away from returning to the final of this event in which they lost a year ago in the definition with the United States.

In the next match of the series, Iga Swiatek left the tie at 2-0 by beating the Kazakh Elena Rybakina 7-6(5), 6-4 after two hours and four minutes, and despite being 3-5 in the initial sleeve that lasted 73 minutes.

“I think it’s the first time I’ve been able to beat Elena on a faster surface, so it means a lot. I’m sure I didn’t start well, I felt a little bit like I was hitting the handbrake,” Swiatek said after beating No. 6 in the world in the WTA.

“I wanted to really work and change the pace, and I’m happy that I did it at the last possible opportunity in the first set. I told myself that I wasn’t going to fail anymore and I’m happy because it was difficult for sure. It’s always difficult against Elena,” added the Pole after leaving her record with the Kazakh at 3-4.

In the last duel of the series, Maja Chwalinska and Jan Zielinski defeated Shevchenko and Zhibek Kulambayeva 6-4, 6-1 to leave the tie at 3-0 and strengthen Team Poland’s candidacy in this edition.

The Poles seem ready to take another step in the United Cup, an event in which they were semi-finalists in 2023 and finalists in 2024. They will look for a first title on Sunday against the United States or the Czech Republic.