Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz sealed Poland’s place in the United Cup quarterfinals on Monday when they cruised past Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-0, 6-0 in Perth.
In a winner-takes-all mixed doubles clash in Group A, Hurkacz and Swiatek ensured the top seed reached the last eight with a dominant display inside the RAC Arena. They won 78 percent (19/24) of their first-serve points, not facing a break point to triumph after just 43 minutes.
Poland reached the semifinals at the 18-country mixed-teams event last season and is the first team to advance to the quarterfinals at this year’s event.
"I was super proud because they really showed off today," said Polish captain Tomasz Wiktorowski. "Hubie had a tough opponent in the first match. Then he stepped up for mixed doubles. It was a great performance in mixed doubles.
"I'm also super proud of Iga because we had a tough offseason just behind [us]. It's always nice when right after offseason, during the official matches, we see that what we've done is working at the moment."
Spain started the day on top by winning the men's singles. Davidovich Fokina notched the first point for Spain with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 upset of Hurkacz.
In a tight matchup inside the RAC Arena, Davidovich Fokina was impressive on second-serve points. He won 74 percent of points behind his second delivery and 55 percent on Hurkacz’s second serve, advancing after 2 hours and 3 minutes.
Davidovich Fokina, who opened his season with a straight-sets win against Thiago Seyboth Wild, now leads Hurkacz 4-2 in their head-to-head. The 24-year-old Spaniard has also improved to 6-24 in his record against players inside the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings.
But Poland's comeback began when World No.1 Swiatek grabbed a 6-2, 6-1 win over Sorribes Tormo.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek celebrated the new year with her 1-hour and 28-minute win over Sorribes Tormo, the top-ranked Spanish woman at World No.48. Swiatek improved her head-to-head with Sorribes Tormo to 3-0 (6-0 in sets).
"This match was pretty physical, even though it was 6-2, 6-1," Swiatek told the press. "It was much tougher than it looked."
On Monday, Swiatek was forced to save four break points within her first three service games. But those proved to be the only break points the WTA’s top-ranked player faced in a match where she never lost serve.
Swiatek’s power game clicked into place during a commanding love break for 4-2, punctuated by a return winner. Two games later, Swiatek collected the one-set lead with a backhand winner on her second set point.
Swiatek saw four break points slip away at 1-0 in the second set, but she took charge for good shortly thereafter with an aggressive break for 3-1. Swiatek cruised home from there to capture her 13th straight match-win, with her two victories so far in Perth backing up consecutive titles at Beijing and the WTA Finals to close out the 2023 season.
"I'm really happy with my level and the way I'm focused," Swiatek said. "I'm not feeling rusty. I'm not feeling like I need to get into a lot of rhythm. I'm playing freely, the same way I felt in Beijing, after US Open basically. I'm just happy to be in that place."
