United Cup: Bencic scores two points alone, Gauff's big win not enough, Switzerland and Poland battle for the title

On January 10th Beijing time, the 2026 United Cup semifinal matches took place as the defending champion USA and Switzerland, emerging from the Perth group, met Poland and Belgium in the Sydney group.

Bencic

The first semifinal was contested between Switzerland and Belgium. The women’s singles match opened the proceedings, with world No.11 Bencic taking the court first. She battled world No.20 Mertens to a decisive third-set tiebreak, where she dominated by winning seven straight points, sealing the match 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(0) to give Switzerland an early lead.

In the men’s singles, veteran Wawrinka took to the court. Despite a skill gap against Belgium’s rising star Belkhassine, he fought hard. After a tough three-set battle, Belkhassine won 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3, leveling the score for Belgium.

In the mixed doubles decider, Bencic partnered with J. Paul once again. They overcame a second-set shutout and, after a tense match tiebreak, narrowly triumphed 6-3, 0-6, 10-5. Bencic maintained an undefeated record in this United Cup with four singles and four mixed doubles wins. With this, Switzerland eliminated Belgium 2-1 overall and secured a spot in the final.

Gauff

The second semifinal featured defending champion USA against Poland. In men’s singles, USA’s top player Fritz continued to struggle in this tournament, losing in two tiebreak sets 6-7(1), 6-7(2) to Hurkacz. The USA fell behind Poland 0-1.

In the women’s singles clash, world No.4 Gauff faced world No.2 Swiatek in a high-level duel. Notably, Gauff took the title from Swiatek in last year’s United Cup final, helping the USA defeat Poland. This match saw Gauff perform well; although she lost her early 4-1 lead, she then won seven consecutive games and eventually secured the victory 6-4, 6-2, giving the defending champions a fighting chance.

In the mixed doubles showdown, the Polish duo Kawa/Jelinski defeated Gauff/Harrison 7-6(5), 7-6(3), knocking out the defending champions and reaching the final for the third consecutive year.

(Text and editing by Dato, photos courtesy of Visual China)