Poland advances to semis with win over China, France progress to quarterfinals

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, tosses the ball for a serve to Zheng Qinwen, of China, during the UC tennis tournament in Perth, yesterday

Poland became the first team through to the United Cup semifinals with a dominant 3-0 win over China in Perth yesterday after France completed a sweep of Italy in Sydney to progress to the quarterfinals.

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek beat No. 14 Zheng Qinwen 6-2, 6-3 in the women’s singles to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead after Hubert Hurkacz’s 6-3, 6-4 win over Zhang Zhizhen in the men’s singles.

Polish pair Katarzyna Piter and Jan Zieliński finished the sweep with a 6-3, 5-7, 10-7 win over You Xiaodi and Sun Fajing in the mixed doubles.

The Poland team will travel across Australia for Saturday’s semifinals in Sydney, where they will play the winner of the France vs. Norway quarterfinal.

“I really wanted to go to Sydney especially because my coach (Tomasz Wiktorowski) told me that I can get three days off in Sydney afterwards,” the 22-year-old Swiatek said. “So for sure Bondi Beach is waiting for us.

“But for now we’ve got to focus on the semifinal and hopefully the final. I’m really happy with my game and how the atmosphere in the team is.”

Earlier yesterday in Sydney, Caroline Garcia and Adrian Mannarino led France past Italy.

Mannarino beat Lorenzo Sonego in straight sets before Garcia beat Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the women’s singles to give France a 2-0 lead and confirm top spot in Group D.

“We have gone a step further than last year,” Garcia said. “Obviously we’re very happy with it and we want to keep going.”

French pair Elixane Lechemia and Édouard Roger-Vasselin completed the sweep with a straight sets win in the mixed doubles.

In the final group stage match in Sydney Greece played Canada to conclude Group B.

No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas returned after missing Greece’s opener against Chile and defeated Canada’s Steven Diez 6-2, 6-3 in 77 minutes to give the Greek team an early lead.

Maria Sakkari was playing former U.S. Open finalist Leylah Fernandez next.

Greece must beat Canada to have any chance of advancing to the quarterfinals. A win for Canada will see it advance as group winner.

Serbia — led by top-ranked Novak Djokovic — faced Australia in the night session in Perth.

Djokovic has been bothered by a wrist injury during the tournament but found a way past Jiri Lehecka in Serbia’s last Group E match against the Czech Republic. MDT/AP