19 hours agoSat 10 Jan 2026 at 8:45pm

Coco Gauff (right) defeated Iga Świątek in straight sets before Poland bounced back. (Getty Images: Robert Prange)

In short:

Poland defeated the US 2-1 in the United Cup semifinals.

Coco Gauff scored a straight-sets win over Iga Świątek in the opening singles rubber, before Poland struck back.

What's next?

Poland meets Switzerland in Sunday night's final.

Coco Gauff has dealt Iga Świątek a blow ahead of the Australian Open, but the US star could not stop Poland from reaching the United Cup final in Sydney.

Gauff outclassed Świątek 6-4, 6-2 to record a fourth straight win over the world number two and force a mixed doubles decider in a dramatic semifinal at Ken Rosewall Arena on Saturday night.

But brought back to play alongside US teammate Christian Harrison, Gauff was powerless to stop the inspirational Polish pair of Katarzyna Kawa and Jan Zieliński.

Holding firm in two tiebreaks, the Poles prevailed 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3) after midnight to reach a third straight final.

Poland, who lost to the US in last year's tournament decider, will face Switzerland in Sunday night's final.

Hubert Hurkacz had given Poland the early lead when he edged out Taylor Fritz 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/1) in the opening singles rubber.

"Hats off to Hubert, who's coming back after seven months away to play incredible tennis and inspiring all of us to play like we did today,"  Zieliński said after Poland wrapped up victory.

"He's just been an inspiration to all of us."

Earlier on Saturday, Belinda Bencic led the Swiss into their first United Cup final.

Bencic was the heart and soul of the epic 2-1 victory over Belgium.

After surviving a third-set tiebreaker to defeat Elise Mertens 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/0) in the opening singles match, Bencic teamed with Jakub Paul to win their third decisive mixed doubles match of the tournament.

Bencic and Paul beat Mertens and Zizou Bergs 6-3, 0-6 [10/5] after regrouping from a second-set collapse when they won just 12 points.

The mixed victory was necessary after Bergs continued his impressive campaign with a 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 triumph over Stan Wawrinka to level the tie as the temperature exceeded 40 degrees during Sydney's summer heatwave.

AAP