United Cup: Poland Favored To Win

betus.com.pa

06 January 2024

There will be no repeat title for the United States in the United Cup as Poland and Germany will play for the title. When looking at the tennis predictions, Poland (+450) was second behind the United States in the odds of winning the United Cup before the tournament began. Germany was outside of the top five in the United Cup outrights.

When looking at the tennis news, one of the major developments in pool play was Australia edging the United States 2-1 to claim the Group C title as the U.S. failed to qualify for the quarterfinals.

The tournament served as a bit of a tuneup for the upcoming Australian Open. When looking at the tennis futures odds, Novak Djokovic (+110) is the front-runner in the odds of winning the men’s singles title at the Australian Open followed by Carlos Alcaraz (+325), Jannik Sinner (+600), and Daniil Medvedev (+900). In the women’s outrights, Iga Swiatek (+240) leads Aryna Sabalenka (+450), Coco Gauff (+800), and Elena Rybakina (+800).

United Cup Finals Information

Matchup: Germany (3-1) vs Poland (4-0)
Date: Sunday, Jan. 7, 5:30 p.m.
Location: Ken Rosewall Arena, Sydney, Australia
United CupLive Stream: TennisTV

A Look At the Final

The men’s singles match will feature two top-10 players with No. 7 Alexander Zverev of Germany going up against ninth-ranked Hubert Hurkacz.

Zverev is 2-0 against Hurkacz. However, they have not met since the 2021 ATP Finals when Zverev won 6-2, 6-4.

In the women’s singles match, No. 1 Swiatek will meet Kerber, who is returning to the tour after maternity leave.

In their only WTA tour match, Swiatek won 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 at the 2022 Indian Wells event.

Look at the Format

The United Cup features teams of ATP and WTA stars. Australia earned a spot in the field as the host country. The other teams were selected based on the ATP and WTA ranking of their top players.

The 18 teams were split into six pools with each team playing two round-robin matches. There are women’s singles and men’s singles matches followed by the mixed doubles match.

The six group winners and the top two second-place teams based on games won reached the quarterfinals.

In pool play, matches were held in Perth and Sydney with the tournament moving to Sydney for the semifinals and the championship match.

Players received ATP or WTA ranking points based on the ranking of the opponent they beat.

How Poland Gained the Final

Poland topped Brazil and Spain to win Group A and advance to the quarterfinals.

Hurkacz was extended to three sets by Brazil’s Thiago Seyborth Wild in the men’s singles match in Poland’s tournament opener before closing it out for the 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 win.

Swiatek, who is listed by our sportsbook as the favorite in the outrights in each of the 2024 Grand Slam tournaments, had no such issues, topping Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-2. She teamed with Hurkacz to win in mixed doubles to wrap up the 3-0 win.

The Group A title was on the line when Poland met Spain.

Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina topped Hurkacz 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to give Spain the lead.

Swiatek dropped just three games against Sara Sorribes Tormo and that led to the mixed doubles match deciding which team would win Group A.

It was not much of a match with Swiatek and Hurkacz rolling to a 6-0, 6-0 win versus Sorribes Tormo and Davidovich Fokina.

Swiatek and Hurkacz combined to lose 12 games in straight-set singles wins against China in the quarterfinals.

With the match clinched, Poland turned to Katarzyna Piter and Jan Zielinski in mixed doubles. They won 10-7 in the third set to give Poland the 3-0 win.

Other than Swiatek losing her first set of the tournament, the semifinal win by Poland was rather routine.

How Germany Advanced to the Final

Much of the attention was focused on Angelique Kerber’s return to the tour. A former world No. 1 who won the Australian Open and US Open singles titles in 2016 and captured the Wimbledon title in 2018. However, Kerber hadn’t played a WTA tour match since losing in the third round at Wimbledon in 2022.

She came through with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 win over Anna Tomljanovic in the first match in the semifinals. That proved to be more important after Australia’s Alex de Minaur topped Zverev in men’s singles.

Zverev and Laura Siegemund edged Matthew Ebden and Storm Hunter 7-6, 6-7, 15-13 in the match of the tournament to give Germany the 2-1 victory in the semifinal.

Siegemund and Zverev needed to come through in mixed doubles in the quarterfinals as well after Greece’s Maria Sakkari defeated Kerber 6-0, 6-3 while Zverev won in straight sets against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Siegemund and Zverev won 6-3, 6-3 to send Germany into the semifinals.

Germany lost to France in round-robin play as Caroline Garcia won in both women’s singles and mixed doubles.

Zverev needed to win in three sets against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in Germany’s opening match. If he didn’t win that match, Germany would not have advanced to the quarterfinals.