Poland beat Swiatek to rally to beat Switzerland in Confederations Cup final
SYDNEY – Jan Zielinski and Katarzyna Kava bounced back from back-to-back runners-up finishes to claim the Fed Cup title on Sunday, beating Jakub Paul and Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-3 in the mixed doubles decider to beat Switzerland 2-1.
Earlier, Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz defeated Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and Belinda Bencic fought back from a set down to defeat second-ranked Iga Swiątek 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, giving Switzerland an unexpected lead.
Hulkac missed the former sixth-ranked player’s first appearance in the tournament in seven months after knee surgery. He won four of his five singles matches, including wins over Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz.
The wins will help ease the pain of final defeats the past two years, with Poland’s Zverev losing two championship points to Fritz in the decider in 2024 and last year.
“In the end, we made it work – third time lucky,” Swiatek said during the trophy presentation. “I really feel like it’s been a team effort this year. Hubi, coming back after so many months. You played great. You inspired determination in all of us. I feel like you improved every part of our game. Our tag team, wow! You beat everyone. Awesome.”
Bencic finally beats Swiatek
Bencic, who has won all four singles matches and all four mixed doubles matches this week, comes into her match against Swiatek, having lost her last five games to the former No. 1 player.
It looked like the trend would continue as Swiatek started strong and took the first set 6-3 at Ken Rosewall Arena.
But No. 11 Bencic turned the momentum around, scoring nine straight points in Game 2 to quickly tie the game in 33 minutes.
The decisive third set hinged on a crucial break at 2-1, with Bencic using a powerful forehand to take control of the match. Although Swiatek served back-to-back aces to save two match points, her efforts were hampered by an unusual 36 unforced errors to Bencic’s 10.
Bencic sealed the victory with a wonderful backhand winner on the third match point.
“Honestly, I felt like I was part of the game from the beginning,” Bencic said. “I thought I was going to do well, but I was down 0-3. I thought ‘OK, what am I going to do.'” I guess I just tried to stay level and wait for some opportunities. “
“I think the difference today was I was playing very freely, I was really enjoying myself on the court and I was working really hard.”
