Third time lucky as Poland beat Switzerland to win United Cup

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.

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.