United Cup
\n Hurkacz, Swiatek send Poland to United Cup quarter-finals<\/p>\n
Poland to play Australia Friday in Sydney<\/p>\n
January 07, 2026<\/p>\n
Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Hubert Hurkacz defeats Tallon Griekspoor in straight sets Wednesday in Sydney.
\n By ATP\/WTA Staff<\/p>\n
Poland has qualified for the quarter-finals of the United Cup<\/a> after Hubert Hurkacz<\/a> defeated Tallon Griekspoor<\/a> 6-3, 7-6(4) on Wednesday. Iga Swiatek followed with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph against Suzan Lamens to clinch the tie.<\/p>\n Entering the day, Poland needed to win one match to guarantee its spot in the last eight at the mixed-teams event. Hurkacz wasted little time, producing a dominant serving performance in which he hit 20 aces and did not face a break point.<\/p>\n \u201cDefinitely didn\u2019t know how I was going to start the season. Haven\u2019t played for seven months, so you don\u2019t really know what to expect,\u201d Hurkacz said. \u201cI was playing okay in practice, but practice is so different from the match when you have so many emotions, you have fans around. I\u2019m quite positively surprised and pleased with that performance out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Prior to this tournament, Hurkacz had not competed since June 2025 because of a knee injury that required surgery. But the former No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings has come out firing in the new season with straight-sets victories against World No. 3 Alexander Zverev<\/a> and Griekspoor.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter such a long period you\u2019re just so excited to be out there and it also gives you a different perspective on things,\u201d Hurkacz said. \u201cI think that\u2019s why I\u2019m able to perform maybe better and even stay calm in the difficult moments.\u201d<\/p>\n Swiatek then wasted no time in making the score 2-0. After being pushed to three sets by Lamens at the 2025 US Open<\/a> in their first meeting, Swiatek pulled away from 3-3 in the first set to win nine of the final 11 games.<\/p>\n After struggling on serve in her season opener against Germany’s Eva Lys in Poland’s first group-stage match, being broken seven times, Swiatek cleaned things up considerably against Lamens to improve to 2-0 against her. She recorded five holds to love, won 84 per cent of her first-serve points, and faced just one break point.<\/p>\n “I’m really happy that I found a way to be more solid in the middle of the first set because it was pretty even until then,” Swiatek said. “I felt like I had more control over the ball and could go for it. I’m really happy that we won this tie just with singles. It gives us good confidence going into the quarter-finals.”<\/p>\n