Women’s tennis world number one Iga Swiatek led Poland to a 2-1 win over Spain in the last match of Group A at the United Cup mixed team tournament in Perth and Sydney.
The success was the second for the Poles after the one over Brazil, and with it they took the first place in Group A, which secured them a qualification for the quarter-finals. The Spaniards are second with a win and a loss, but have no chance of qualifying for the knockout stages as one of the two best second-placed teams in the six groups.
In the women’s singles match, Iga Swiatek beat Sara Sorribes Tormo by 2-0 (6:2, 6:1), and then in mixed doubles she and Hubert Hurkacz were even more convincing against Sara Sorribes Tormo and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to win by 2-0 (6:0, 6:0) in just 43 minutes of play.
The Spaniards still took an honorable mention, which came in the men’s singles match, in which Alejandro Davidovich Fokina won 2-1 (3:6, 6:3, 6:4) against Hubert Hurkacz.
In the other early match of the program, Norway prevailed with a 2-1 over Croatia in Group F.
Donna Vekic gave the Croatian team the lead with a 2-1 (7:5, 3:6, 6:3) success over Malene Helgo, but Norwegian star Casper Ruud restored parity after a 2-0 (6:4, 6:1) win over Borna Coric.
In the decisive mixed doubles match, Casper Ruud and Ulrikke Eikeri defeated Ivan Dodig and Donna Vekic by 2-1 (6:2, 3:6, 10-7).
Before the last match in the group between Croatia and the Netherlands, the leader is the “tulips” team, but all three teams in the stream have chances to advance.
