TENNIS: The United Cup 2026
Jan. 12th, 2026 08:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllI’ve been watching bits of this year’s United Cup, thanks to the Tennis Channel replaying matches after they happened, but because of the time difference, it was sometimes confusing and hard to follow. Every country has to put forward a men’s singles and woman’s singles player and mixed doubles team, and I think the points were more complicated than a simple win giving you a point, which played into who got out of the group stages, half of which were played in Perth – surely giving an advantage to the teams playing in Sydney, where the final stages were all played.
Most players won and lost (but not Swiatek or Bencic, who just won in the group stages), with Gauff getting a surprise loss, Italy not getting out of the group stage. Bergs of Belgium found a flow state to play way above his ranking at times, beating Auger-Aliasseme and Mensik, suggesting (after the Davis Cup) that he’s one of those who play better when they play above their country. Switzerland had returning mother Bencic and Stan Wawrinka, who’d announced this was his last year and was the playing captain. Both of them are famously good when putting on their country’s colours. It was also good to see Hurkacz come back from an injury and play well.
The semis ended up being between Belgium and Switzerland, with Bencic beating Mertens in three, Bergs beating Wawrinka in three and Bencic returning to play with Jakob Paul whose fresh legs possibly helped against Mertens (who is a strong doubles player) and Bergs. I had to rely on highlights to learn that Gauff had found a way to beat Swiatek in three, again. She’s flipped the old narrative between them! But Hurkacz beat Fritz (who has been having issues with his knee, apparently) in two tiebreaks, and the mixed doubles pairing of Zeilinski (sp?) and Kawa beating Gauff and Harrison.
I thought that whichever team came out of the latter semi final had to be favourite to win. I watched all of the women’s singles match, where Swiatek had to be the favourite, given that she’s won most of her matches against Bencic.
The first set had a lot of breaks, but Swiatek was the one who took the lead. Bencic, though, listened to her coach and Wawrinka, served better, and started frazzling Swiatek, as Gauff had done the previous day. So Swiatek was hitting harder, not smarter. Bencic has always had good anticipation, but moved better in that match and indeed played better than she’d ever done before to win against the world no. 2 in three sets.
I learned that Wawrinka (tired because of his age and emotional energy expended in this tournament) and Hurkacz (tired because he was playing his first tournament since coming back from injury, although he's beaten Zverev and Fritz, which is not bad going) went to three, but Hurkacz predictably won.
So, it was down to two mixed doubles teams that had yet to lose, and I got to watch all of an entertaining match, where Zelinski’s serve was very strong, (he’s a doubles grand slam champion), Kawa was inspired, Bencic had her moments, but by the end was showing that this was her tenth match, and Paul also had his moments, but Poland were irresistible. After losing in the last two finals of this tournament, they finally won.
Swiatek was delighted, but probably has some thinking to do about how she responds to stress from players she used to dominate. Hurkacz was delighted, and his singles ranking (currently in the 80s) ought to shoot up. Bencic looked like a top 10 player (currently ranked 11 and last year’s most improved player on the comeback after giving birth) and a real contender for the Australian Open. Gauff very nearly dragged her team into the final. Fritz must be worried about his knee, and Kawa and Paul probably won’t have any difficulty in finding doubles partners for the rest of the year. And Wawrinka started off his final year of pro tennis earning a lot of goodwill.
Most players won and lost (but not Swiatek or Bencic, who just won in the group stages), with Gauff getting a surprise loss, Italy not getting out of the group stage. Bergs of Belgium found a flow state to play way above his ranking at times, beating Auger-Aliasseme and Mensik, suggesting (after the Davis Cup) that he’s one of those who play better when they play above their country. Switzerland had returning mother Bencic and Stan Wawrinka, who’d announced this was his last year and was the playing captain. Both of them are famously good when putting on their country’s colours. It was also good to see Hurkacz come back from an injury and play well.
The semis ended up being between Belgium and Switzerland, with Bencic beating Mertens in three, Bergs beating Wawrinka in three and Bencic returning to play with Jakob Paul whose fresh legs possibly helped against Mertens (who is a strong doubles player) and Bergs. I had to rely on highlights to learn that Gauff had found a way to beat Swiatek in three, again. She’s flipped the old narrative between them! But Hurkacz beat Fritz (who has been having issues with his knee, apparently) in two tiebreaks, and the mixed doubles pairing of Zeilinski (sp?) and Kawa beating Gauff and Harrison.
I thought that whichever team came out of the latter semi final had to be favourite to win. I watched all of the women’s singles match, where Swiatek had to be the favourite, given that she’s won most of her matches against Bencic.
The first set had a lot of breaks, but Swiatek was the one who took the lead. Bencic, though, listened to her coach and Wawrinka, served better, and started frazzling Swiatek, as Gauff had done the previous day. So Swiatek was hitting harder, not smarter. Bencic has always had good anticipation, but moved better in that match and indeed played better than she’d ever done before to win against the world no. 2 in three sets.
I learned that Wawrinka (tired because of his age and emotional energy expended in this tournament) and Hurkacz (tired because he was playing his first tournament since coming back from injury, although he's beaten Zverev and Fritz, which is not bad going) went to three, but Hurkacz predictably won.
So, it was down to two mixed doubles teams that had yet to lose, and I got to watch all of an entertaining match, where Zelinski’s serve was very strong, (he’s a doubles grand slam champion), Kawa was inspired, Bencic had her moments, but by the end was showing that this was her tenth match, and Paul also had his moments, but Poland were irresistible. After losing in the last two finals of this tournament, they finally won.
Swiatek was delighted, but probably has some thinking to do about how she responds to stress from players she used to dominate. Hurkacz was delighted, and his singles ranking (currently in the 80s) ought to shoot up. Bencic looked like a top 10 player (currently ranked 11 and last year’s most improved player on the comeback after giving birth) and a real contender for the Australian Open. Gauff very nearly dragged her team into the final. Fritz must be worried about his knee, and Kawa and Paul probably won’t have any difficulty in finding doubles partners for the rest of the year. And Wawrinka started off his final year of pro tennis earning a lot of goodwill.
