Iga Swiatek defeated Elena Rybakina 7-6(5) 6-4 to seal Poland’s place in the United Cup final for a second consecutive year.
The world number two overcame a 4-2 deficit in head-to-head against the Kazakh to secure victory for Poland in the United Cup semi-finals.
Although Swiatek won, the match was far from easy as Swiatek had to recover from a break down in the opening set with Rybakina dealing the first blow at 3-2.
However the former world number one came up clutch towards the crucial moments of the set, breaking in the tenth game before creating two set points in the twelfth game.
Rybakina survived another tough test from Swiatek as she held to force a first set tiebreak and put pressure on Swiatek early in the tiebreak.
Despite the Rybakina pressure, Swiatek remained clutch to take the tiebreak 7-5, before breaking in the seventh game of the second set to claim victory.
After the match Swiatek spoke about what the victory means for her, “I think that’s the first time I was able to win with Elena on a faster surface, so it means a lot,” Swiatek told the WTA website.
“I for sure didn’t start well, I felt like I [was] on the hand-brake a bit. I wanted to really work and change the momentum, and I’m happy that I kind of did that at the last possible chance in the first set. I kind of told myself that I’m not going to miss anymore, and I’m happy because for sure it was tough. It’s always tough against Elena.”
In the other results in the tie, Hubert Hurkacz gave Poland a 1-0 lead by defeating Alexander Shevchenko 6-3 6-2 while Maja Chwalinska and Jan Zielinski completed a 3-0 whitewash by defeating Zhibek Kulambayeva and Shevchenko 6-4 6-1.
Poland will now play either the Czech Republic or USA in Sunday’s final.
