Swiatek doubles up as Poland reach semi-finals of United Cup

Iga Swiatek has been smiling her way through Poland’s United Cup campaign and the world No 1 had every reason to on Wednesday as she won her singles and doubles matches to send her country through to the semi-finals of the inaugural event.

First Swiatek brushed aside Martina Trevisan 6-2, 6-4 and then, after Magda Linette had levelled the tie at 2-2, Swiatek joined forces with Hubert Hurkacz to see off Camilla Rosatello and Lorenzo Musetti 6-1, 6-2 to send Poland through to the last four.

“Amazing, honestly,” Swiatek said on court. “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.

“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.”

For Hurkacz, it was a nice end to a day in which he was beaten in three sets by Matteo Berrettini as Italy threatened to pinch the win. Linette’s win over Lucia Bronzetti gave them hope and Swiatek and Hurkacz did the rest.

“Definitely it was a little bit stressful before the match,” Hurkacz admitted. “It was a very interesting match-up, but it was definitely a lot of fun to play mixed doubles to decide. 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.”

Nevertheless, Italy still progress to the semi-finals by virtue of having the best record of the three beaten teams on Wednesday.

USA down Britain to book last-four spot

The United States booked their spot in the last four despite more heroics from Cam Norrie, who followed up wins over Rafael Nadal and Alex de Minaur by getting the better of Taylor Fritz 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

That was Britain’s only win on the day, however, as the USA earned a 4-1 win, through victories by Madison Keys, Frances Tiafoe, Jessica Pegula and then the combination of Pegula and Fritz.

Pegula lost her first match of the week to Petra Kvitova but bounced back superbly to lead the US into the semis.

“Being able to win all the next four matches definitely gives me a lot of confidence,” she said. “I’m glad I got to play back-to-back days, which is always nice, and get the win.

“Obviously I felt great today, but every day is a different day, so we will see. I feel good going into the semis, for sure.”

Tsitsipas and Sakkari combine as Greece edge out Croatia

The Greece-Croatia match also went the distance but it was the heavyweight pairing of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari that saw Greece through 3-2.

Tsitsipas had earlier exorcised some of his bad memories from previous battles with Borna Coric as he came from 4-1 down in the decider to win 6-0, 6-7 (4), 7-5, finally clinching victory on his sixth match point.

Donna Vekic had put Croatia in front but after Sakkari saw off Petra Martic 6-3, 6-3, Borna Gojo levelled the tie at 2-2 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Stefanos Sakellaridis.

That put the pressure on Tsitsipas and Sakkari to deliver but they did it in style with a confident win, with the help of a vociferous crowd in Perth (7-6, 6-4).

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