SYDNEY, Australia — Poland has advanced to the semifinals of the United Cup, defeating host nation Australia in the last quarterfinal tie 2-1. The Polish now seek to avenge their 2025 United Cup final loss to the United States, as they continue their streak of semifinal appearances at all four of the tournament’s editions.

After Iga Swiatek and Alex de Minaur claimed contrasting singles wins for their countries earlier in the evening, Jan Zielinski and Katarzyna Kawa sealed Poland’s victory with a 6-4, 6-0 win over John-Patrick Smith and Storm Hunter.

Swiatek now has a chance to stop a three-match losing streak to Coco Gauff on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, including a 4-6, 4-6 defeat in last year’s final. Hubert Hurkacz will meet Taylor Fritz, another repeat singles of last year’s final.

However, Swiatek rides plenty of momentum into Saturday evening’s semifinal after a 6-1, 6-1 drubbing of Australian No. 1 Maya Joint in Friday’s quarterfinal. It marked the World No. 2’s second career win against Joint, and she only needed 57 minutes to get the win.

“I think the intensity — the balls get quite heavy so I’m happy that I was always pushing forward,” Swiatek said on court. “I got pretty confident at the end so for sure it was a good match.”

Joint held serve to have an initial 1-0 lead, but after, the Swiatek show ensued. The six-time Grand Slam champion overwhelmingly controlled the rallies, often forcing Joint to scramble from side-to-side just to keep the rally alive.

Swiatek won six straight games to win the first set in 26 minutes and had garnered “Iga” chants from her Polish supporters early on into the match. Her set point, a cross-court forehand winner that sped past an outstretched Joint, summed up the match best.

In the second, Swiatek and Joint traded holds, the latter of which earned some encouragement from the home crowd. Similarly, Swiatek recaptured the lead with a break, and didn’t look back, en route to her 15th singles win at the competition.

In men’s singles, de Minaur produced one of the grittiest opening-set performances of his career, setting up a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Hurkacz.

Playing his first tournament since last year’s grass season, Hurkacz was near untouchable in his first three service games when he dropped just one point on serve. But growing increasingly frustrated by his inability to cash in on his chances in return games, his unforced error count ticked up in the closing stages of the set.

After de Minaur saved three break points to level at 4-4, the 26-year-old claimed the decisive break and then won 21 consecutive points on serve before unexpectedly dropping serve at the end of the second set.

Ispired by deafening roars from Aussie fans inside Ken Rosewall Arena, last year’s hard-court wins leader broke early in the third set to secure his eighth victory in 11 singles appearances at the event. However, though the win leveled the tie, it would ultimately not be enough to advance.