Poland rallies to knock off top-seeded U.S. to reach third straight United Cup final

SYDNEY, Australia -- The United Cup has its second finalist, and Poland will return to the final for the third consecutive year after it avenged its 2025 final defeat to the United States with a 2-1 victory in Saturday’s semifinal.

Poland, which got wins from Hubert Hurkacz in singles as well as Katarzyna Kawa and Jan Zielinski in mixed doubles, will face first-time finalist Switzerland. World No. 2 Iga Swiatek, who fell to Coco Gauff 4-6, 2-6, will have a chance to redeem herself against Belinda Bencic, while Hurkacz encounters Stan Wawrinka.

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Kawa and Zielinski were the heroes, knocking off the previously unbeaten American duo of Gauff and Christian Harrison. Kawa and Zielinski won their second straight deciding mixed doubles following a win over Australia in the quarterfinals Friday. 

In the loss to Poland, Gauff earned her fourth straight victory over her rival Swiatek in their 16th overall meeting on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. That streak  includes a 6-4, 6-4 win in last year’s United Cup, as well as wins at Madrid and the 2024 WTA Finals.

"I thought I did everything well, served well, returned well" Gauff said to the WTA on her match vs. Swiatek. "I thought it was a great match for me. I was hoping to get through in the mixed but overall there's a lot of positives to take from today."

The two rivals traded a few holds initially as Gauff, who served first, took a 2-1 lead before notching the match’s first strike. She broke Swiatek and backed it up with a hold, amassing to a 4-1 advantage, but the Pole swiftly found herself back in the set.

Swiatek won 12 consecutive points to win three straight games and level the set at 4-4. She had the momentum, but Gauff remained calm and composed for the remainder of the 43-minute first set. She held serve, and on the ensuing Swiatek service game, the American No. 1 needed just one set point to close it out.

That momentum carried its way into the second, where Gauff bolted out to a 5-0 lead -- Swiatek saved three match points to prevent the second set bagel to get two games back.

In the second and fourth games, Gauff needed three and four break point chances, respectively, to secure the game as each went into a long deuce. In the fourth, Swiatek even had multiple game points of her own, but the final two points saw Swiatek’s shots go long and wide, a common occurrence Saturday evening.

"I feel like Coco has improved stuff. It's quite visible. The matches we played couple years back where most of them were kind of one-sided," Swiatek said. "She's also growing in age, more experienced as well.

"She's a top player for many years now, even though she started with she was, like, 16, much earlier than most of us do. Yeah, congrats to her basically."

It wasn’t the same Swiatek that defeated Maya Joint 6-1, 6-1 a day prior, but she'll have a chance to get her 16th overall singles win at the tournament against Bencic.

As for Hurkacz, the Pole continued his dream start to his comeback with a 7-6 (1), 7-6 (2) win against Fritz. 

"Obviously playing Taylor is such a big challenge and it’s a very difficult match, especially this court, it’s quite fast. He’s serving very powerfully. Also, his forehand is really big, so if you leave anything short, he’s going to come after it," Hurkacz told ATP No. 1 Club Jim Courier. "I felt like I played actually quite solid myself. I tried to be more aggressive."

Hurkacz has now beaten Alexander Zverev, Tallon Griekspoor and Fritz in Sydney, claiming all three of those victories in straight sets. Hurkacz saved the two break points he faced against Fritz, which doubled as set points at 4-5 in the opening set, to earn the lead for his country in one hour and 35 minutes.

"Coming back from such a long period the first time in my life, you never know what to expect," Hurkacz said. "I was putting so much work outside of the court so, I give myself time to get back to my level, to an even better level and maybe a little bit less expectations coming into this week helped as well.”

Fritz led Hurkacz 4-2 in their head-to-head series, including two previous wins at the United Cup. But the Pole and his booming serve proved too much for the American.