Polish world number one Iga Świątek lost to Jessica Pegula from the United States (6-2, 6-2). Kacper Żuk was defeated by Frances Tiafoe (3-6, 3-6). Team USA has the 2-0 lead against Team Poland in the semifinal.
Świątek vs. Pegula
The first women’s meeting of the opening semifinal of the mixed-teams lasted just over an hour.
“I’ve played her in a lot of different places but I definitely feel like these were the fastest conditions,” said Pegula, who lost to Ash Barty in the Australian Open quarterfinals last year.
said Jessica Pegula to ABC News.
“Also Poland had a tough turnaround yesterday and we’ve been lucky enough to have been playing here, and maybe have a little bit of an advantage in being used to the courts.
“So I wanted to take that and use it as much as I could and I did a really good job playing really aggressive, serving smart and returning really well.”
After the match, Świątek sat down on a chair, covered her face with a towel and started to cry. The defeat was very painful for her and she did not wanted her fans to see her like this.
It was Agnieszka Radwańska who supporte and comforted Świątek in this difficult time:
Żuk vs. Tiafoe
Even before the start of the semifinal Poland vs. the United States, Kacper Żuk was put in place of Daniel Michalski to compete with Frances Tiafoe.
Kacper Żuk and Frances Tiafoe have never played against each other before. Tiafoe is the 19th best player in the general ranking and scored a set of wins.
However, the American tennis player did not dominate Kacper Żuk, even though he was less experienced.
The semifinals will be played across two days on Friday, Jan. 6 and Saturday, Jan. 7 in Sydney.
United Cup semifinals consist of five matches. The other three will take place tomorrow, on Saturday, Jan. 7.
Hubert Hurkacz will face Taylor Fritz, and Magda Linette will face Madison Keys.
The seminal will end with a mixed doubles. For now, there will be a meeting of Świątek and Hurkacz against Pegula and Fritz, but the composition of the pairs may change depending on the result of the previous matches.
The total prize money pool for the United Cup is $15 million, split equally between the ATP and WTA. Individual prize money is based on ranking, match wins, and team wins. No points will be awarded for mixed doubles. A player can earn a maximum of 500 points for the week, depending on their ranking.