Tennis: Swiatek, Hurkacz win to send Poland to United Cup final four

BRISBANE – World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz were Polish heroes in Brisbane on Wednesday, defeating Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti and Camilla Rosatello 6-1, 6-2 in the decisive mixed doubles match in the city final to send Poland through to the United Cup semi-finals in Sydney.

The Poles had lost their first match of the day, after rising star Musetti produced an almost flawless display of serving to put Italy in front.

The 20-year-old lost only three points on serve to beat Poland’s Daniel Michalski 6-1, 6-1 in just 57 minutes in the best-of-five mixed team clash.

But Swiatek outlasted Martina Trevisan 6-2, 6-4 to level the tie at 1-1.

The three-time Grand Slam winner raced through the first set but was forced into a fight in the second, finally claiming victory in 1hr 51min.

“It became tight at the end and I felt like she had her chances as well,” Swiatek said.

“It was stressful. I feel Martina was really changing the rhythm well. At the end, I tried to be really solid.

“My goal is to be more consistent and keep the same level of tennis right to the end.”

In a topsy-turvy match-up, the Italians fought back again, as Matteo Berrettini defeated Hurkacz 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Poland’s Magda Linette then levelled the tie once more by beating Lucia Bronzetti in the second women’s singles 6-1, 6-2.

It was finally down to Swiatek and Hurkacz and they made no mistake with their win over Musetti and Rosatello to earn their ticket to Sydney.

The winners of the city finals in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth progress to the semi-finals of the inaugural mixed team tournament along with the best-performing losing finalist.

In Sydney, a tenacious Madison Keys gave the United States an early lead over Britain before Cameron Norrie struck back when he won a high-quality match against Taylor Fritz in their city final.

However, the Americans were too strong in the end as they won 4-1 and will meet Poland in the final four over Friday and Saturday.

World No. 11 Keys lost the first set to Katie Swan before recovering to win a gruelling match 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 2hr 18min.

“I actually practised with Katie a few days before the tournament and I said to my coach she’s playing absolutely great tennis,” Keys said.

“So I knew I would have to play well and I think she played a phenomenal first set and I knew I had to raise my level.”

Norrie and Fritz played an enthralling encounter which was in the balance until the Briton broke at 4-4 in the final set, then served it out to claim a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory.

“All credit to Taylor, we’ve played so many times and always had a battle, so I was definitely ready for three sets,” Norrie said.

Following the two matches, world No. 3 Jessica Pegula put the US 2-1 up when she crushed Harriet Dart 6-2, 6-0. Frances Tiafoe made it 3-1 when he beat Dan Evans 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

In the mixed doubles dead rubber, Pegula joined forces with Fritz to beat Dart and Evans 6-4, 6-4.

In Perth, Croatia took the first point when Donna Vekic downed Greece’s Despina Papamichail 6-2, 6-0.

Greece’s world No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas then beat Borna Coric 6-0, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5 in the second singles.

Sixth-ranked Maria Sakkari made it 2-1 to Greece when she defeated Petra Martic 6-3, 6-3, but Borna Gojo downed Stefanos Sakellaridis 6-4, 6-2 to take the tie to the decisive mixed doubles.

Greece’s best players then teamed up to seal a 3-2 win as Sakkari and Tsitsipas beat 67th-ranked Vekic and world No. 26 Coric 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 in 1hr 36min.

They face best-performing losing city finalist Italy in the other last-four tie in Sydney on Friday and Saturday. The final is on Sunday. AFP, REUTERS