United Cup Round-Up: Hubert Hurkacz leads Poland to quarterfinals as Swiatek keeps team unbeaten

The Polish team secured a place in the United Cup quarterfinals following a remarkable victory by world No. 83 Hubert Hurkacz over Tallon Griekspoor. The 28-year-old Pole notched his second consecutive win and is displaying strong form despite a lengthy absence in 2025 due to injury.

Poland started the tournament with a 3-0 win over Germany on the opening day (all in straight sets), putting them in a comfortable position. Only one more victory was needed to top the group, and Hurkacz delivered early, making Iga Swiatek’s appearance on court a mere formality, as qualification was already secured. Nevertheless, Swiatek fulfilled her role and recorded a solid win over Suzan Lamens.

The eight quarterfinalists are now confirmed, and Poland knows their next opponent: hosts Australia. Led by Alex de Minaur and Maya Joint, Australia topped their group and will face Poland in two days for a spot in the semifinals in Sydney.

Hurkacz claimed a straightforward victory over world No. 25 Tallon Griekspoor by 6-3, 7-6(4), demonstrating that he has returned to high-level play. In just his first tournament back, Hurkacz has not dropped a set – against two strong opponents, Zverev and Griekspoor – and has shown unshakable confidence on serve.

In the first set, Hurkacz won 91% of points on his serve (100% on first serves, conceding just two points on second serves). A total of 9 aces made his service games extremely fast, and he converted a single break opportunity late in the set to take it 6-3.

In the second set, Griekspoor served and Hurkacz responded calmly. The Dutchman kept pace, and the set went to a tiebreak after a set without any break points. Hurkacz held firm in the tiebreak, converting his second match point to seal the victory – totaling 21 aces in the match.

With his second win, Hurkacz earned 85 ranking points, moving up 14 spots to No. 69 – a strong start to the year, with plenty still to play for in the United Cup. "Definitely didn’t know how I was going to start the season. Haven’t played for seven months, so you don’t really know what to expect," the former world No. 6 said. “I was playing okay in practice, but practice is so different from the match when you have so many emotions, you have fans around. I’m quite positively surprised and pleased with that performance out there.”

The match started as expected for Swiatek, who earned the first break and moved ahead 3-1 within a few minutes. Some strong rallies showed that Lamens could keep up with Swiatek, even against the Pole’s heavy cross-court forehands, and she managed a break to level the score at 3-3.

However, the difference came down to Swiatek’s ability to stay focused. Leading 4-3, Lamens made a couple of unforced errors while serving, which cost her the break and ultimately the set, 6-3.

The second set didn’t take long to unfold. After Lamens’ first service game, Swiatek claimed two consecutive breaks – capitalizing on five double faults from her opponent – and gradually pulled away. The six-time major champion maintained her composure and closed the match 6-3, 6-2, giving Poland another straight-set victory.

Hurkacz’s straight-sets win over Griekspoor confirmed Central Europe’s team as leaders of Group F, eliminating Germany – who still had a faint hope of qualifying if the Netherlands caused a major upset.

The full draw is now set: the six group winners advance, while the best runner-ups from each city also move on. In Perth, Argentina surprisingly advanced (4-2), eliminating Italy and Great Britain, while the Czech Republic progressed from Perth, knocking out Canada and Germany.

In Sydney, Poland will face hosts Australia, led by Alex de Minaur and Maya Joint, while the Czech Republic will take on Belgium. From there, the two semifinalists will meet the top two teams advancing from Perth.

In Perth, matches beginning today will determine the first semifinalists: the United States will face Greece, while Switzerland will play Argentina.