Preview: Swiatek vs. Joint opens a high-stakes Poland–Australia showdown

Here’s a United Cup blockbuster meeting of two undefeated teams that will deliver the last semifinalist into the mix with the United States, Switzerland and Belgium.

Group D champion Australia will be playing in front of a wildly partisan home crowd in Ken Rosewall Arena, while Group F winner Poland was a finalist in last year’s United Cup competition.

Poland’s Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz each won their two singles matches. Swiatek spotted Germany’s Eva Lys a set and came back to win in three, then defeated Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands in straight sets. Hurkacz, coming back from nearly seven months away from the game with a knee surgery last summer, stunned Alexander Zverev with 21 aces and 0 double faults, then beat Tallon Griekspoor with 20 more aces.

The WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz scheduled matchup between Iga Swiatek and Maya Joint bears watching. When Joint fell ill, Storm Hunter stepped up and led Australia to a victory over Norway, contributing to both match wins. Joint played singles against Czechia but fell to Barbora Krejcikova.

Swiatek beat Joint in their only previous meeting, 6-0, 6-2 last fall in Seoul.

“But,” Swiatek noted, “every match is a different story. So I kind of know what her ball feels like, but obviously I'm pretty sure she also learned by also knowing how my ball feels like. So I will need to prepare tactically by watching the last matches that she played. I'll be ready.

“She seems like a really intelligent and humble person, so that's also important in my opinion. Yeah, I wish her all the best, but not in two days.”

Because he missed the last half of the 2025 season, Hurkacz is ranked No. 83, while Australia’s Alex de Minaur is No. 6. Still, it’s worth mentioning that Hurkacz reached that elite level in 2024. De Minaur holds a 2-1 head-to-head advantage.

“He's really quick, moves around the court incredibly well,” Hurkacz said. “So it's going to be a good challenge, especially with the Aussie crowd. It's going to be a lot of fun, and I'm excited for the match.”

On Tuesday, Australia advanced with a 2-1 win over Czechia when de Minaur teamed with Hunter to win in mixed doubles. Captain Lleyton Hewitt called it a total team effort.

“Coming out here, we knew we probably couldn't finish the highest second-place team, so we had to win tonight,” he said. “We had to somehow win two points. We were able to do that.

“Good to have Maya back out there healthy tonight as well. Then obviously Alex had to step up and keep us in it. Played a fantastic match from start to finish. For him to back up and play a great mixed doubles with Storm. Good way to finish the round-robin.”

Sydney quarterfinal No. 2: Australia (2-0) vs. Poland (2-0)

Start Time: (5:30 p.m. local, 1:30 a.m. ET)

--Women’s singles: Maya Joint vs. Iga Swiatek
--Men’s singles: Alex de Minaur vs. Hubert Hurkacz
--Mixed doubles: Storm Hunter and John-Patrick Smith vs. Swiatek and Hurkacz

Brisbane International

Friday’s stellar card features four quarterfinals with five Top 10 players:

No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 5 Madison Keys, winners of the past three Australian Opens -- and a rematch of last year’s final.

No. 3 Elena Rybakina vs. Karolina Muchova. Rybakina won the WTA Finals in Riyadh two months ago, while Muchova has reached four Grand Slam semifinals, as well as the final at the 2023 Roland Garros.

No. 4 Jessica Pegula vs. No. 10 Liudmila Samsonova. Pegula was a finalist at the 2024 US Open; Samsonova has five WTA Tour titles and was a quarterfinalist last year at Wimbledon.

No. 6 Mirra Andreeva vs. No. 16 Marta Kostyuk. Andreeva, winner of back-to-back WTA 1000s last year in Dubai and Indian Wells, advanced after a 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 9 Linda Noskova. Kostyuk knocked out No. 2 seed Amanda Anisimova, 6-4, 6-3, in Thursday’s Round of 16.

Schedule of play

PAT RAFTER ARENA starts at 11:00 AM
--[WTA] [3] E. Rybakina (KAZ) vs [11] K. Muchova (CZE)
--[WTA] NB 12:30 PM [1] A. Sabalenka vs [5] M. Keys (USA)
--[ATP] NB 3:00 PM [Q] R. Collignon (BEL) vs B. Nakashima (USA)
--[WTA] NB 6:30 PM [6] M. Andreeva vs [16] M. Kostyuk (UKR)
--[ATP] NB 8:00 PM [1] D. Medvedev vs [LL] K. Majchrzak (POL)

Auckland’s ASB Classic

Four of the top five seeds advanced to the quarters.

No. 1 seed Elina Svitolina, 31, takes on Sonay Kartal, while No. 3 Iva Jovic and No. 4 Alexandra Eala -- only 18 and 20, respectively -- meet qualifier Sofia Costoulas and No. 5 Magda Linette.

Schedule of play

CENTRE COURT starts at 11:30 AM
--[7] Wang Xin Yu (CHN) vs F. Jones (GBR)
--[5] M. Linette (POL) vs [4] A. Eala (PHI)
--[3] I. Jovic (USA) vs [Q] S. Costoulas (BEL)
--NB 6:00 PM [1] E. Svitolina (UKR) vs S. Kartal (GBR)
--A. Eala (PHI) / I. Jovic (USA) vs [3] Y. Xu (CHN) / Z. Yang (CHN)