Iga Swiatek did not play around in her third match at the 2024 United Cup, beating talented Qinwen Zheng in two sets to send her country into the semifinals.
Last year, Poland reached the semifinals of the inaugural United Cup. Still, they fell short to the eventual champions United States, who were just at another level throughout the tournament, which, back then, featured a best-of-five tie format.
That has now changed to the best-of-three, and with two very good singles players, that improves Poland's qualities to do well at the tournament significantly, as they proved multiple times at the tournament this year.
In the first match of the quarterfinal tie, Hubert Hurkacz took on Zhizhen Zhang, who played on a solid level throughout the week, while the Polish player struggled in both matches that he played.
Regardless, this time around, Hurkacz was able to win the match without any major difficulties, triumphing 6-3, 6-4 to secure Poland's first win in the semifinals, and with the WTA's world no. 1 as his teammate, things looked pretty much decided.
And Swiatek proved that statement right in her match, with another statement win. Qinwen Zheng is the Asian Games champion, and one of the biggest talents on the WTA Tour, but her qualities were just not good enough against the world no. 1.
And it was despite the fact that the Chinese player started the match with a break, leading 2-0 early on. But after that, Swiatek won eleven consecutive points, and she soon completed a perfect turnaround, winning six straight games to win the opening set 6-2.
After that, the Pole faced some resistance from her opponent again in the second set, but once again, Swiatek navigated the challenge from Zheng, winning the match in two simple sets 6-2, 6-3.
For Poland, this marks another semifinal participation at the United Cup, and they will now await the winner of the quarterfinal tie between France and Norway or a possible runner-up of Group B in Sydney.
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