Germany completed a memorable comeback in the early hours of Monday morning to knock off Poland 2-1 for the United Cup trophy.
After Alexander Zverev saved two championship points against Hubert Hurkacz, Zverev returned to Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney, Australia alongside Laura Siegemund to defeat Hurkacz and Iga Swiatek 6-4, 5-7, 10-4 in a match that ended at 12:45 a.m. local time.
Earlier on Sunday, No.1-ranked Swiatek gave Poland the early lead with a 6-3, 6-0 win against Angelique Kerber before Zverev and Germany leveled the championship.
The match remained in the balance until Swiatek engineered the only break of the set. After saving three more break points on her own serve, Swiatek overpowered the Kerber serve to break to 5-3 and serve out the set.
"I felt like she was really picking the right spots to play and she surprised me sometimes with her decision-making and choices," Swiatek said. "I knew she could play like that but I didn't have much time to get into the rhythm because she was really aiming sometimes these balls inside out."
Swiatek would run off a streak of nine consecutive games to complete the 70-minute win.
"I feel like I really improved during the preseason, and I'm happy that I played such solid matches here," Swiatek said. "It's really fun and it's really exciting to play with my teammates and for Poland. I'm really excited to win all my matches for Poland."
Despite her country’s loss, Swiatek continued her dominant form from a year ago. Her victory against against Kerber extended her active win streak to 16 matches, a stretch that began last fall with runs through Beijing and Cancun to end the season.
Well that's not the result I wanted to see when I woke up this morning. They were so incredibly close. Hubi had 2 match points.
Honestly if it wasn't for Laura Siegemund's doubles experience Germany wouldn't even be in the final, they would have lost along the way to France or Australia.
This one hurts, but I'm so enormously proud, they fought like lions in that mixed doubles super tiebreak. And even though Hubi didn't win he left his heart out there. Fantastic fight and result nonetheless.
Hubi will just have to make it up to Iga by helping to win gold for Poland at the Olympics this summer :)
Iga really was the Most Valuable Player on the team and she rightfully deserves that lovely silver plate.
The emotions that poured out at the end were heart breaking to watch. It's always tough for me to see Iga cry, but at the same time I appreciate the show of emotion when something means a great deal to her.
And this meant a lot.
The next time I hear someone complaining that Iga doesn't play for her country at BJK Cup, or refers to her as unpatriotic I'm gonna point them to this final.
It may not have ended the way we hoped, but Iga is in fantastic form on a 16 match win streak going back to last year.
Her new service motion is working quite effectively and she's playing as confidently as she was right at the end of the season.
Plus by winning all her matches she gained 500 ranking points to continue to stay on top ahead of Sabalenka. So lot's of positives to take away.
I got way to invested in this tournament, all the late nights are making me feel a hang over usually reserved for the end of a Slam. This sport really has a way of messing with one's emotions.
With all that said I'm already looking forward to more the Australian Open in a week's time.
Jazda!
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