Team Poland has won the United Cup 2026 after defeating Switzerland in an exciting final tie on Sunday. Poland came into the final for the third time in a row. After being especially ultimately close in 2024, when Germany came back from saving championship point, and losing to USA in 2025, the Poles have finally clinched the trophy in Sydney. Hubert Hurkacz has sealed his comeback to ATP competition after on-going knee injury, moving the final tie into decisive mixed doubles. Iga Swiatek suffered quite a crushing lose to Belinda Bencic in the opener, but Hurkacz's effort and fantastic form of the mixed doubles duo Katarzyna Kawa and Jan Zielinski helped to finally take the trophy which whole the team hardly worked for during whole the week.
Bencic stuns Swiatek to set Switzerland on pole position
In the opening match of the final tie, Bencic mounted a spectacular comeback against the world No. 2, recovering from a set down to prevail 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. The Swiss star's remarkable turnaround began with a dominant second set bagel before she closed out the decider to finish the tournament with a perfect 5-0 singles record. Bencic's superior break point conversion proved decisive - she capitalized on six of 12 opportunities while Swiatek managed just three breaks from eight chances. The pressure point statistics highlighted Bencic's resilience and dominance on court.
The Swiss produced as many as 36 pressure points to keep constant heat on the Polish star's service games winning almost half of it (15), and stayed composed securing 11 of 19 serve pressure points. This gave team Switzerland the crucial advantage at the start of Sunday's final and extended Bencic's streak to 11 singles on-court wins in a row - including the tournament win in Tokyo last year and the run in Hong Kong when she won two matches but withdrew before the final.
Bencic was surely the MVP of the women's side of the tournament, winning all her matches, while Swiatek or Coco Gauff has not always delivered - the Pole has surprisingly got defeated twice in decisive stages, Gauff faced a shocking upset to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the group round and failed to help the team in decisive mixed doubles during semifinals.
Hurkacz delivers emotional comeback at United Cup
Seven months after knee surgery, Hubert Hurkacz made a triumphant return to competitive tennis, defeating Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a crucial United Cup singles match. The former world No. 6 showed no signs of rust in his first tournament back, keeping Poland's championship hopes alive with a determined three-set victory.
Hurkacz's serving statistics were exceptional given his lengthy layoff, firing 18 aces while winning an impressive 83% of first-serve points. Most remarkably, he saved 8 of 9 break points faced, winning 19 of 28 serve pressure points to demonstrate the mental fortitude that carried him through his rehabilitation period. The Pole has started the run back into the areas of ranking where he truly belongs. 265 points earned in United Cup is the biggest amount earned out of all the ATP players in first week. That lifts him up by 30 spots from 83th to 53th in the official rankings, giving more calm in the process of rebuilding the position in the ATP field during upcoming months.
Playing in what could be Wawrinka's farewell season, the 40-year-old Swiss veteran battled courageously but ultimately fell short in his bid for an unexpected United Cup title. The match sent the final to a deciding mixed doubles, where Poland ultimately claimed the championship after falling short in the previous two editions.
Kawa and Zielinski invincible on the path to glory
Team Poland owes the successful title bid after third attempt in a row due to the exceptional form of mixed doubles pairing - Katarzyna Kawa and Jan Zielinski. The women's singles world number 134 and 33rd best ATP doubles player took matters into their own hands in all the knock-out decisives matches this week. Kawa and Zielinski has compensated the loss of Hurkacz in quarterfinal against Australia and Swiatek's defeats in semis and a big final. After defeating Australian and American pairings in straights during the weekend, they recreated the flawless performance when it mattered the most as well. 6-4 6-3 over Bencic and doubles player Jakub Paul made the Polish dream finally come true after two lost finals against Germany in 2024 and USA in 2025.