United Cup takeaways: Poland’s breakthrough, Bencic’s MVP run, Swiatek’s reset

SYDNEY, Australia -- The United Cup concluded Sunday with Poland capturing its first title in the international mixed-team event, defeating Switzerland in the championship tie.

Led by Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz, Poland finished a perfect 5-0 across all ties, knocking off Germany and the Netherlands in group play before defeating Australia in the quarterfinals, the United States in the semifinals and Switzerland in the final.

Switzerland, powered by Belinda Bencic, produced a standout run from Perth to Sydney. Bencic delivered one of the event’s top individual performances on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz.

With the tournament complete and one week remaining before the Australian Open, here are four takeaways from the 2026 United Cup.

MVP back in the Top 10

Belinda Bencic produced a standout run across Perth and Sydney, earning the tournament’s most valuable player award. The Swiss No. 1 finished 9-1 overall, with her only loss coming in the mixed-doubles decider of the final against Poland.

Paired with Jakub Paul, Bencic was a consistent force in mixed doubles, with the duo winning three deciding matches on their way to the final in Sydney.

At the tournament, Bencic picked up two top 10 singles wins over No. 8 Jasmine Paolini and No. 2 Iga Swiatek, and carries momentum heading into the Australian Open.

Bencic earned 500 ranking points with five singles victories, moving her into the Top 10 ahead of the Australian Open. The 2025 WTA Comeback Player of the Year began last season ranked outside the Top 500 and climbed to No. 11, where she stood throughout the United Cup.

“It’s a big confidence-booster," Bencic said after the final. "You start the year, and you're just trying to get matches in. Obviously it's been great playing match after match, but being pushed so much from everyone.

“Also super happy to be in the Top 10 now. I think it's been a huge goal, maybe a huge ride after the whole comeback, to come back and prove this to myself, that it's possible. We keep on going.”

Swiatek prioritizing recovery after United Cup win

Iga Swiatek rarely loses consecutive matches. She most recently did so at the WTA Finals Riyadh a few months ago, falling to Elena Rybakina and Amanda Anisimova. Before that, her previous back-to-back losses came at the 2021 WTA Finals.

At the United Cup, she fell to Coco Gauff and Belinda Bencic in consecutive matches, though picking up three solid wins over Eva Lys, Suzan Lamens and Maya Joint across the group stage and quarterfinals to lead her team to the trophy.

Swiatek said she wasn't "physically" her best self, particularly in the second set against Bencic, but attributed it to the intensity the team competition and format brings. She also said she'll address the technical things that didn't work this week -- Swiatek had an uncharacteristic 36 unforced errors to Bencic's 10 on Sunday.

With the first Grand Slam of the year looming, how is Swiatek feeling?

"Everything is fine," she told reporters after the final. "Just super sore. I guess first tournament of the year, it costs the body a bit differently than during the season. But I had similar experience last year also. I'll just get good recovery, couple days off. Also I know these team events. I love them but they really take a lot of energy from you. I still need to figure out how to balance that maybe in the future.

"We're going to work now to improve some elements that didn't work this week," Swiatek added. "Still not a lot of time for that if I also want to have some recovery days. This is how tennis is. You got to go with the flow. We'll see."

‘The results will show’

Maria Sakkari earned victories over Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu to propel Greece into the quarterfinal. Though she and Greece ultimately fell in the quarterfinal tie to United States’ Coco Gauff, the start was reassuring and encouraging for the World No. 51.

Sakkari said she had a tough 2025 season -- she had returned from shoulder surgery in 2024.

“I mean, it was a very, very tough season last year. I'm not going to lie. It wasn't easy to handle, but at the same time, I feel like I learned a lot,” Sakkari, ranked No. 51, said on Jan. 2. “I just had some time to recover and just think about the things I want to improve for this season.

“I had five weeks of very good practice and had time to put in a lot of work and just think of the things that I want to work on. The results will show how good of a work we did put.”

Sakkari looked much improved in Perth, and the results did now. Part of that process was fine-tuning her serve beginning in Beijing last season. She's competing in Adelaide in her buildup to the Slam, with her opening match against Australia's Daria Kasatkina.

“We started in Beijing actually. Then I skipped Wuhan qualies because I was changing my serve and my forehand and I was not ready to play,” Sakkari, the former World No. 3, said after her win against Raducanu Jan. 5. “We stayed in Wuhan just trying to improve that change. Obviously, we had more time during preseason.

“Some technical things that I feel like because I played too many tournaments last year, you get into bad habits, then you don't have the time to just improve, turn them into good habits.”

Raducanu working her way back to 100%

Despite climbing her way back into the top 30,  Raducanu didn’t have an ideal end to the 2025 season. She was eliminated in the first round in both of her final two tournaments, Wuhan and Ningbo, retiring in the former. She’s also been battling a lingering foot injury to start the season.

At the United Cup, Katie Swan replaced Raducanu on a few hours’ notice ahead of their opening tie against Japan because of the foot injury. Raducanu did compete in the team’s second tie against Greece, falling to Sakkari.

She had only started hitting two weeks before that match, primarily focusing on fitness previously, but she felt pleased with how she performed in the three-set loss. She's playing as the top seed at the WTA 250 Hobart International in the lead up to the Australian Open.

“It’s been difficult to kind of increase the load and add the unpredictability of the tennis,” Raducanu said. “I think today, being able to produce that, having not played, is just giving me confidence to what I can do when I do practice more.

“It’s also first match of the season. It's been a long break for everyone. I think after my last match in Ningbo, it's been a good three months.”