United Cup: Dan Evans sees Great Britain through, Hurkacz fires to eliminate Kazakhstan

James Richardson
United Cup

Kazakhstan have joined Germany in being eliminated from the United Cup as they lost their tie against Poland.

Poland and Kazakhstan came into the second half of their tie level at 1-1.

It was Hubert Hurkacz who snatched the impetus for Poland when he he defeated Kazakhstan playing captain Alexander Bublik 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-3.

“It was a lot of fun to play against Sascha. I think that the quality was really high. It was the first match of the new year on the first [day of the year], so that was pretty good. I’m really happy with the quality and it was definitely a fun match,” Hurkacz said.

“It was a lot of fun to play in front of such a great crowd. I’ve never been in Brisbane and I really love it here so thanks guys for coming.”

Hurkacz leads Bublik 4-1 in their head-to-head series, and has won four consecutive matches against the Kazakhstani.

Polish Women’s no 2 Magda Linette cruised past Kazakhstan’s Zhibek Kulambayeva 6-2, 6-1 to claim the tie and knock their opponents out.

“Following Hubi was great,” Linette said. “Watching that match from them was nerve-wracking. But it was really nice coming with the advantage of knowing he won. It was great and I just did my job.”

Great Britain claimed their tie against Spain despite Paula Badosa getting her country back into it with the first win for her team.

Badosa engineered a remarkable comeback despite suffering from cramp to defeat Harriet Dart 6-7(6), 7-6(5), 6-1.

Badosa went into it chasing her first win over the World No 98 Dart. The Brit memorably handed Badosa her final loss of the 2022 season at the Billie Jean King Cup, taking that match 6-3, 6-4 in November.

“I don’t know what happened at the second set, I started a little bit to cramp,” Badosa said.

“It was high intensity, first match of the year, I was nervous. But I could adapt myself. I started to play a little bit more aggressive. I’m very happy with the fight tonight because I played and fought until the last moment.”

Dan Evans clinched top spot in Group D with a victory in the final singles match of the tie against Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Cameron Norrie – who defeated Rafael Nadal – and Katie Swan – who downed Nuria Parrizas-Diaz – had set Great Britain up for the win with a couple of victories on Saturday.

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