SYDNEY, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Poland reached the United Cup mixed-team final for the third straight year on Saturday, beating defending champion United States 2-1 in the semifinals in Sydney despite Coco Gauff's win over Iga Swiatek in the women's singles.
Jan Zielinski and Katarzyna Kawa beat Gauff and Christian Harrison 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in the decisive mixed doubles at Ken Rosewall Arena.
Poland, runner-up in the past two editions, will face Switzerland in Sunday's final, ensuring a new champion.
The pressure was on Gauff after Hubert Hurkacz upset men's world No. 9 Taylor Fritz in straight sets.
Gauff leveled the tie with a 6-4, 6-2 win over world No. 2 Swiatek in one hour and 42 minutes.
The matchup drew attention with the pair combining for eight Grand Slam titles.
Swiatek had dominated the rivalry before Gauff won three straight matches against her, including a straight-sets victory in last year's United Cup final.
Gauff set the tone early, dictating play and finding the corners with pinpoint accuracy.
Swiatek was on the verge of losing the second set without winning a game, but Gauff missed a match point in the sixth game as Swiatek, a six-time Grand Slam champion, won consecutive games.
Gauff regrouped and closed out the match on her fourth match point.
"I didn't let the opportunities that I had on match points get away from me," said Gauff, a two-time major champion and the reigning French Open winner. "I knew that, how I was playing the whole match, I would get it done."
In the men's singles, Hurkacz beat Fritz 7-6 (1), 7-6 (2) as he continued his comeback after a seven-month layoff following knee surgery.
The former world No. 6 relied on his serve and dominated both tiebreaks, after also beating three-time Grand Slam finalist Alexander Zverev earlier in Poland's campaign.
In a match dominated by serving, Fritz was unable to convert two break points in the 10th game that would have earned him the first break.
"Definitely pleasantly surprised in a way because I haven't played in such a long time," Hurkacz said.
"On the other hand, I was putting so much work outside of the court, so I gave myself time to get back to my level, to an even better level, and maybe a little bit less expectations coming into this week helped as well," he said.
Switzerland earlier beat Belgium 2-1 in the other semifinal, led by women's world No. 11 Belinda Bencic, in oppressive heat with temperatures peaking at 42 degrees Celsius. ■
