USA beat Czech Republic to set up final against Poland in United Cup

Former champions USA returned to the final of the United Cup mixed team tournament with a fortuitous victory over the Czech Republic on Saturday and set up a title clash with Poland, who hammered Kazakhstan.

Tomas Machac looked set to draw the Czechs level at 1-1 in their semi-final and was serving for the contest against Taylor Fritz, but an apparent cramp took its toll and he lost three straight games before throwing in the towel at 7-6(4), 5-6.

The result gave the Americans an unassailable 2-0 lead that sent them through.

"It's great to be back (in the final). That was a crazy match, very physical and it's not the way that I guess I wanted to win," Fritz said. "He said that he had been cramping for a couple of games. I didn't notice. He was moving pretty well, I guess he was playing through it. It's really humid in here ... tough conditions."

Coco Gauff got the ball rolling for the 2023 champions with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over the tricky Karolina Muchova in a rematch of the Beijing final in October that the American won.

"It's never easy against Karolina," said world No. 3 Gauff, who recovered from a break deep in the second set to get past Muchova in Sydney. "The whole match I was intense and focused and I think that made the difference today."

Last year's runners-up Poland reached their second straight final at the $10 million tournament after Hubert Hurkacz and Iga Swiatek won their singles matches in style.

World No. 2 Swiatek settled the tie with a battling effort against the big-hitting Elena Rybakina, securing a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory for a 2-0 lead at the Ken Rosewall Arena.

"I think this was the first time I was able to win against Elena on a faster surface," exhausted Swiatek told reporters after the epic battle that lasted a little over two hours. "It means a lot. I didn't start well, I felt like I was on the handbrake a bit. I knew I had to do something because this match could go both ways. I wanted to change the momentum and I'm happy I did that in the last possible chance. I told myself that I'm not going to miss anymore, and I'm happy because it's always tough against Elena."

Hurkacz earlier beat Alexander Shevchenko 6-3, 6-2 in less than an hour to help his team put one foot into the final.

"The last match here gave me a little bit of confidence and I've been playing better with every single match," said Hurkacz, who downed Briton Billy Harris in the quarter-final after a couple of defeats in the group stage.

Poland, who were edged out by Germany in last year's final, completed a clean sweep after Maja Chwalinska and Jan Zielinski beat Zhibek Kulambayeva and Shevchenko 6-4, 6-1.