Third time lucky as Poland beat Switzerland to win United Cup

SYDNEY, Jan 11 : Poland battled ‌past Switzerland 2-1 in the United Cup final on Sunday to banish the pain of title-round defeats in the previous two editions and secure a long-awaited maiden triumph in the season-opening mixed-team competition.

Hubert Hurkacz continued his resurgence in his first event back after a near seven-month injury layoff by beating veteran Stan Wawrinka 6-3 3-6 6-3 to level the tie at 1-1 after Iga Swiatek lost 3-6 6-0 6-3 to an inspired Belinda Bencic.

The mixed doubles duo of Katarzyna Kawa and Jan Zielinski then downed Bencic and Jakub Paul 6-4 6-3 in the deciding match to trigger jubilant scenes in ‌Sydney, where Poland finally converted their dominance into silverware.

"We've finally made it. Third time lucky," ‌Swiatek said.

"We worked hard ... I want to thank the team. This year it was such a team effort, I really felt the support. Even though my singles performances weren't perfect, you got my spirits up and you all believed until the end."

Victory capped a superb campaign for Poland, who beat last year's champions the United States in the semi-finals, and set up Hurkacz to carry momentum into his singles campaign at the Australian Open that begins on January 18.

Six-times Grand Slam champion Swiatek heads into the year's opening major at Melbourne ‍Park with back-to-back defeats after losing to Bencic on Sunday and Coco Gauff in the semi-finals, though she will remain among the top contenders.

ENTERTAINING CONTEST

Swiatek's defeat by Gauff looked to be firmly in the rear-view mirror when she shot out of the blocks against Bencic, the 24-year-old breaking early and going up 3-0 in the first set in the most entertaining contest of the day.

Bencic dragged herself back into the match but ​Swiatek