Who to Pay Attention to in the United Cup?
by Steve Ashfield | by Steve Ashfield
New United Cup champions to be crowned
It's already been a very unpredictable United Cup. This is a mixed team tournament played in Australia on outdoor hard courts. The USA have already been knocked out in the group stages, so we will see new champions crowned. Let's look at some of the contenders to succeed the USA.
Poland Qualify for the Quarter FInals
This is the second United Cup tournament and the first saw Poland reach the semi-finals where they lost 5-0 to the USA who went on to win the title. It's a slightly different format this year with only two singles and one mixed doubles match being played.
It's gone well for the Poles so far who won Group A after beating both Brazil and Spain. After winning the WTA Finals at the end of last season, Iga Swiatek returned to the top of the world rankings after losing that spot to Aryna Sabalenka. Swiatek won her last two tournaments of the 2023 season and has started well in this tournament.
Wins have come against Beatriz Haddad Maia and Sara Sorribes Tormo with only seven games being lost. The quarter finals will see Poland take on China and Swiatek is again expected to win her likely singles match against Zheng Qinwen.
That would leave the Poles needing one more win from the other two matches to be played. The men's singles match will feature Hubert Hurkacz who's ranked in the top ten at present. He beat Thiago Seyboth-Wild in his first singles but then lost in three sets to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina. He's expected to face Zhang Zhizhen who also has a 1-1 record so far but is ranked nearly 50 places below Hurkacz.
Swiatek and Hurkacz will team up for the mixed doubles and have won both of their matches so far. That included beating Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo and Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina without losing a game.
Djokovic Chasing Another Title
Serbia didn't play in the inaugural United Cup but they are in this year's quarter finals. World number one Novak Djokovic decided to play in this tournament and it's been working out well for him so far as you might expect.
He's won both of his men's singles matches but did need to go to a final set when taking on Jiri Lehecka. He only dropped one game in the first set but Lehecka won the next on a tie-break. Normal service was resumed in set three with Djokovic winning that 6-1. Just as with Poland, Djokovic is expected to win his matches so that puts pressure on their opponents who then need to win the women's singles and mixed doubles to win the tie.
The weak point in the Serbian team is their women's singles representative. Olga Danilovic is ranked 119th in the world and has so far lost both of her singles matches being beaten by Zheng Qinwen and Marketa Vondrousova, though she did win a set against the current Wimbledon champion.
Serbia faces Australia in the last eight and this looks like being a close match. Djokovic will likely give them one of the two wins they need. Danilovic has a better chance of winning than in the group stages with Ajla Tomljanovic her likely opponent. If it comes down to a deciding mixed doubles match there's one big question. Will Novak Djokovic (not a world number one at doubles) play? He didn't play against China with Hamad Medjedovic partnering Danilovic. You can read the views of our experts in their betting tips for the United Cup.
Australia are the host nation and last year failed to get out of their group. They won Group C to get to the knockout stages in this tournament but did lose to Great Britain before beating the USA. That win eliminated the title holders so we'll see new United Cup winners later this month.
Group C was always going to be tight and that's just how it worked out. Australia, USA and Great Britain all won one and lost their other game and each team won seven sets. Australia only got through because they lost one set less than the other two teams.
Alex de Minaur is their men's singles player and he's had mixed results so far. He lost to Cameron Norrie but then beat Taylor Fritz in three sets. The quarter finals will most likely see him taking on Novak Djokovic and that's obviously not going to be easy for him.
Ajla Tomljanovic has lost both of her matches so far but up against Olga Danilovic will be hopeful of keeping Australia in the quarter final. Storm Hunter will team up with Matthew Ebdon in the mixed doubles and have so far won both of their matches. Remember you can keep up to date with all the results on our tennis livescore.
