tag

Hubert Hurkacz capped his injury comeback and earned United Cup redemption as he inspired Poland to a first title with a 2-1 victory in the final against Switzerland in Sydney Sunday.Switzerland took a shock early lead when Belinda Bencic stunned world number two Iga Swiatek 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 in the opening singles of the mixed teams event.Playing his first tournament in seven months following knee surgery, 28-year-old Hurkacz withstood a Stan Wawrinka fightback to prevail 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and send it to a deciding doubles.Katarzyna Kawa and Jan Zielinski then completed a famous victory by beating Bencic and Jakub Paul 6-4, 6-3 to erase the heartbreak of Poland losing in the final in 2024 and 2025."Finally, we made it! Third time lucky!" Swiatek said during the trophy ceremony."I really felt it was a team effort this year."Hubi, what a comeback after so many months. You played amazing. You inspired us all with determination."Our doubles team, wow! You just beat everyone. It was amazing."Hurkacz fired 18 aces against the 40-year-old Wawrinka to erase two heartbreaking near misses in the last two United Cup finals.In 2024, Hurkacz squandered two championship points before falling to Germany's Alexander Zverev. The USA's Taylor Fritz denied him in a third-set tie-break last year."He's definitely an inspiration," Hurkacz said of Wawrinka, who is playing his final season on tour before retirement."I was growing up watching him play, compete and win so much. Obviously his game style is really powerful."The shots that he can pull off sometimes, you can really admire them even when you are on the other side of the net."Bencic won 12 of the final 15 games against a shell-shocked Swiatek, earning her second victory over the world number two."To be honest, I felt I was in the match from the very first point," said Bencic, who won all five of her singles matches in the tournament."I thought I was going great and I was 0-3 down. I was 'OK, what do I have to do?'"I think I just tried to keep the level and just wait for some chances."With the title on the line, Zielinski partnered Kawa to victory over the Swiss pair who had been unbeaten in the tournament, scuppering Bencic's attempt at a perfect 10-0 record in singles and doubles."This moment is so bittersweet," Bencic said, adding Switzerland had nothing to be disappointed about."We can be so proud of ourselves and we really deserve to celebrate this. It was truly one of the best weeks of my life." 

Italian second seed Jasmine Paolini kept her hopes of qualifying for the WTA Finals alive with a gritty comeback win over Belinda Bencic, beating Switzerland's Tokyo Olympic gold medallist 5-7 7-5 6-3 in the Ningbo Open quarter-finals on Friday.Paolini will face third-seed Elena Rybakina in the semis, after the Russian-born Kazakh took less than an hour to beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2 6-0 later in the day.Twice Grand Slam finalist Paolini needs a win over Rybakina in the last four to qualify for next month's WTA Finals in Riyadh.The contest against Bencic at the WTA 500 hardcourt tournament, which lasted a marathon three hours and 22 minutes, marked the longest match of Paolini's season.Bencic, 28, served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but was unable to close it out. Her momentum was further interrupted in the deciding set when she took a medical time-out due to a thigh issue while trailing 4-3."One of the toughest I ever played, honestly," Paolini, who was the runner-up at last year's French Open and Wimbledon, said. "Belinda, she's an amazing player and a very good person. Today she deserved to win as well, so it was really tough."I'm happy I stayed there, because at the beginning I had too many mistakes. I couldn't find my best tennis, but then I just tried to stay there every point and turn the match somehow."Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys have all qualified for the season-ending championship of the WTA Tour in Riyadh, with two spots still up for grabs.Rybakina eases past TomljanovicRybakina also remained in contention for a place at the WTA Finals, as she landed seven aces while a struggling Tomljanovic made nine double faults.Former Wimbledon champion Rybakina has now won 50 matches on the tour this year and qualified for seven semi-finals."Of course it would be nice to qualify (for the WTA Finals). But I know for this I still need to win a lot of matches. Not only here, but also next week," Rybakina said."Today I think I served well. It’s not easy to play Ajla. Today a lot of things went my way. Also some lines which I caught. Overall, happy I won in straight sets. Looking forward to tomorrow."Fourth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova brushed aside American McCartney Kessler 6-3 6-3 to set up a last-four clash with fellow Russian and seventh seed Diana Shnaider, who beat local favourite Zhu Lin 2-6 6-3 6-1 later on Friday.