Swiatek drops one game in season debut; Poland edges Norway at United Cup

World No.2 Iga Swiatek powered a memorable 2-1 victory for Poland against Norway on Monday evening at the United Cup.

After Swiatek and Casper Ruud earned singles wins in front of the Sydney fans, Swiatek and Jan Zielinski battled past Ulrikke Eikeri and Ruud 6-3, 0-6 [10-8] to clinch the tie for their country.

United Cup: Scores | Draws | Order of Play

"It's still the old year, so I'm happy to finish it like that," Swiatek said. "I'm really happy that I could play with Jan and show our game. It was pretty tight, but I'm happy that at the end we stepped up the level and we finished it so Poland could win."

Chants of "Ruuuuuuud!" rang out through the Sydney night to combat shouts of 'Poland! Poland!' Fans were on the edge of their seat at the match reached its climax. Norway led the Match Tie-break 8-6 and Ruud held two served at 8-7, but lost both points.

"Even though the second set was 0-6, we knew it was very close. It was a matter of single points, deciding points, 0-30 we had a couple times. We knew this could change at any moment," Zielinski said. "They had their momentum at some point, 8-7 serving, Casper, so we were not in the ideal position. But we stayed tough, we showed some good returns and best tennis when it mattered, so I'm happy with the outcome."

With the result, Norway has been eliminated from the United Cup. The winner between Poland and the Czech Republic on Wednesday will win Group B and advance to the quarterfinals of the mixed-teams competition. Barring any lineup changes, Swiatek will face Karolina Muchova in a rematch of the 2023 Roland Garros final. 

Earlier, Swiatek laid down a marker in her season opener in singles, defeating No.404 Malene Helgø 6-1, 6-0.

Swiatek, 23, led the Hologic WTA Tour in match wins (59) and titles (5) in the 2024 season, and she looked as sharp as ever in her season debut. With new coach Wim Fissette sitting in the coaches' box, Swiatek overpowered Helgø from the baseline to tally her first win of the season.

"I'm happy for sure with the performance," Swiatek said. "It's not easy to play for your country, sometimes the pressure is bigger."

Swiatek won the first nine points of the match and raced through the 24-minute opening set behind eight forehand winners, four backhand winners, and just two unforced errors.  She held Helgø to just two winners off the ground. 

Helgø, 25, has emerged as a United Cup stalwart for Norway, having competed in all three editions. Away from the annual competition, she has yet to compete at a tour-level event, peaking at a career-high No.317 on the PIF WTA Rankings. She has won nine titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour. 

Swiatek continued her march through a clinical second set. After coming through a 10-minute game to break Helgø, converting her seventh break point for a 3-0 lead, Swiatek sprinted across the finish line to seal a 62-minute win. She finished the match with 21 groundstroke winners and just eight unforced errors. She did not face a break point. 

In the face of elimination, Ruud responded with a top performance inside Ken Rosewall Arena. The No.6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings surged past Hubert Hurkacz 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 23 minutes to keep his country's hopes alive and force a live mixed doubles clash.

"I think [it was] almost an error-less match... Not many unforced errors, except for maybe one or two there [in] the last game," Ruud said. "But very happy with my performance. It was solid with a good game plan and I was able to execute it well.

"Of course you always go out on court with a gameplan, but you also have to execute it. It's not just given that you will do everything you want to do. So I'm happy that I was able to play well tonight. And I knew I had to against Hubi, he's a great player."

Hurkacz's serve is consistently one of the toughest to break on the ATP Tour. Ruud managed to do so twice to force a deciding mixed doubles match.

The Norwegian told ATPTour.com Sunday after defeating Tomas Machac that he spent time during the offseason testing the limits of his game, swinging more freely than he has to see how consistently he could executive a more aggressive gamestyle. 

While he did not come out blasting the ball against Hurkacz, Ruud took the initiative when he needed to, including on set point in the first set, crushing a forehand to Hurkacz's forehand, eliciting an error.

Hurkacz only won 44 per cent of his second-serve points according to Infosys ATP Stats. It was the 27-year-old's first match under new coach Nicolas Massu.