Australia’s Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic will be looking to book a spot in the United Cup final on Saturday when they take on Team Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber.
Both De Minaur and Tomljanovic carry plenty of momentum into their respective matches, enjoying statement wins in very different ways as Australia swept Team Serbia 3-0 in the quarterfinals.
De Minaur is coming off a stunning upset victory over world No.1 Novak Djokovic, who boasted a 43-match winning streak in Australia before going down to the 24-year-old.
“It’s hard to put into words. It’s a very good feeling,” De Minaur said after his win over Djokovic.
“Everything that could have gone well went well today. I’m happy that I can say I got a win over the GOAT.”
MATCH CENTRE
TOMLJANOVIC VS KERBER: Live scores, stats
DE MINAUR VS ZVEREV: Live scores, stats
Zverev powers Germany into semi finals | 01:14
On Saturday night De Minaur will face another big challenge against Zverev, who he is on the wrong end of a 1-6 head-to-head record against.
Tomljanovic, meanwhile, made easy work of world No.184 Natalija Stevanović in the quarterfinals as she cruised to a 6-1 6-1 win.
She will take on former world No.1 Kerber at Ken Rosewall Arena, with their match scheduled to begin not before 5.30pm.
De Minaur and Zverev will then follow at 7pm at the earliest, with Australian duo Storm Hunter and Matt Ebden closing out the night against Laura Siegemund Maximilian and Marterer.
While De Minaur understandably has dominated the headlines following his statement victory over Djokovic, Hunter and Ebden are the only Australians to remain undefeated in three ties at the United Cup.
That is particularly important given de Minaur and Tomljanovic both dropped their matches in Australia’s opening tie against Great Britain while the latter then went down to Team USA’s Jessica Pegula.
In other words, Australia wouldn’t be in this position in the first place if it was not for Hunter and Ebden and they may be called on again to save the day late on Saturday night.
De Minaur claims huge victory over Joker | 01:18
EARLIER: POLAND INTO FINAL AFTER SWEEP OVER FRANCE
Four-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek and teammate Hubert Hurkacz swept top seeds Poland into the United Cup final on Saturday with a hard-fought victory over France.
Hurkacz, at a career-high nine in the world, defeated left-hander Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-5 in Sydney before world number one Swiatek toppled Caroline Garcia 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.
They will play either Alexander Zverev’s Germany or hosts Australia in Sunday’s mixed teams competition decider in the lead-up to the Australian Open.
It is the first final for Poland, who lost at the semi-final stage last year to eventual champions the United States.
“I’m happy that I came back and I didn’t make so many mistakes as in the first set,” Swiatek said. “For sure, Caro was putting pressure as usual, so I’m happy that we’re through to the final.
“Sometimes it’s a bit hard to point (to) one thing that changed (after the first set). I just feel like I needed to calm down a little bit and not rush it,” she added.
Garcia was France’s saviour in their 2-1 win over Norway in the quarter-finals, coming through a titanic struggle against unheralded Malene Helgo, then backing up to win in mixed doubles.
She again displayed her fighting spirit in breaking Swiatek for a 4-3 lead and taking the first set in 43 minutes.
But that was as good as it got for the world number 20, who folded as Swiatek moved through the gears to dominate the rest of the match Swiatek grabbed the momentum back in the second set, surging to a 5-0 lead before converting her third set point at 5-1.
A break to love in the opening game of the deciding set deflated Garcia, with Swiatek largely untroubled as she raced to the finish line.
A steady Hurkacz played well in the critical moments and held serve with few problems to close out his match in 1hr and 41mins.
“I think definitely today was a real battle,” said Hurkacz, who won the Shanghai Masters last year and also tasted victory at Marseille.
“Adrian was playing really, really tricky shots and it’s difficult to play against.
“So I was just battling for every single point, and I think mentally I was able to stay in the present, stay positive before each point and I think I was also really resilient today.”
— AFP
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