Poland and the USA reach United Cup final four

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United Cup

Frances Tiafoe ensured that the United States did not need to decide their United Cup City Finals tie against Great Britain in the mixed doubles while the duo of Hubert Hurkacz and Iga Swiatek were the heroes as Poland reached the final four.

Tiafoe rallied past Daniel Evans 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to give his nation an unassailable 3-1 lead before Taylor Fritz and Jessica Pegula sealed a 4-1 win Harriet Dart and Evans.

Entering the fray with Team USA up 2-1, Tiafoe displayed his all-court game to improve to 3-0 on the season. The World No 19 timed his forehand sweetly to draw Evans around, and he moved confidently, finishing points at the net on Ken Rosewall Arena. with clinical efficiency.

Tiafoe maintained his intensity and drive in the vital moments of the final set to confound Evans, earning the decisive break in the fifth game. With his two-hour and eleven-minute victory, the 24-year-old extended his head to head series lead over World No 27 Evans to 4-2.

Tiafoe has won all three of his bout ATP Tour matches this season, including victories over Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac and Germany’s Oscar Otte.

The USA won their City Final by the largest margin, effectively eliminating Great Britain from contention to take the lucky losers slot in the final four.

Poland needed a mixed doubles win to prevail in their United Cup tie against Italy and Swiatek and Hurkacz delivered.

The all-star piairng put Lorenzo Musetti and Camilla Rosatello to the sword 6-1, 6-2.

Swiatek savoured the unique nature of this triumph.

“[It feels] amazing, honestly. I don’t know. I think it’s better winning in a team than individually. I’m so happy that we did it together and team effort for sure paid off,” Swiatek said. “Today’s match was pretty stressful because we [don’t] play mixed doubles usually. But I’m so happy that I was able to play a solid game and Hubi was pushing our opponents and really making it easy for me. So I’m really happy that we played such a nice game.”

Hurkacz had lost the No 1 men’s singles match to Matteo Berrettini and said that the lead-up to the decider was nerve-wracking.

“Definitely it was a little bit stressful before the match. Obviously Team Italy is a really super strong team,” Hurkacz said.

“It was a very interesting matchup, but it was definitely a lot of fun to play mixed doubles to decide and… to win as a team is something special. And having Iga as a partner the way she hits the ball, it’s just amazing. Definitely the girls carried the team today, so thanks for that!”

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Frances Tiafoe Iga Swiatek

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