Recap & Review: The 2026 United Cup

There is perhaps no better way to open a season of professional tennis than the United Cup, a magical week where the ATP and WTA tour merge to create one tour-level team event grouped by nationality. It's no surprise that it is named the "United Cup," as in this unique event players from both tours work together to win, fueled by national pride which adds an extra layer of competitiveness and excitement. The past few years, our own United States has emerged victorious, with a consistent and solid duo of Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz dominating Down Under. But this year, the results were a little different. Let's uncover all the action. 

The tournament kicks off with a few days of the "group stage," where six groups, named alphabetically A-F, play out in two different cities, Perth and Sydney. Each group contains three countries, who play each other in a round-robin style draw. The United States, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, Greece, and Poland all emerged victorious in their groups, and they were joined by the two next best teams, the Czech Republic and Argentina. The draw transformed into standard single-elimination, starting at the quarterfinal round. The typical suspects progressed, with the US securing a matchup against Poland and Switzerland against Belgium. That's where the action started.

Photo credit: QWisps, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Top seed Coco Gauff of America played her part, defeating 9th seed Iga Swiatek in two outstanding sets, 6-4, 6-2. It appeared as though the US would progress once again to the final and walk away victorious, as they only had to win of the two next matches. However, Taylor Fritz, who hadn't been playing at his top level all week long, succumbed to a refined Hubert Hurkacz, in two painful tiebreaks. It was then up to Coco Gauff and partner Christian Harrison to get the job done for the US, but a stronger pairing in Katarzyna Kawa and Jan Zielinski emerged victorious 7-6, 7-6 to pull of a shock defeat. 

In the other semi final, Belinda Bencic secured the first point for Switzerland, taking down Elise Mertens in three. Belgium fought back, with Zizou Bergs eliminating Stan Wawrinka in a long, three-set encounter. Then, Bencic and Jakub Paul were able to punch their one way pass to the finals, 6-3, 0-6, 10-5. 

The championship tie must have been a blast for fans, as the singles matches both went to three entertaining sets. Belinda Bencic took down Swiatek, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. Next up, Hubert Hurkacz leveled it up against veteran Stan Wawrinka, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Finally, the successful duo of Kawa/Zielinksi did the job against Bencic and Paul, 6-4, 6-3. While the tours may now go their separate ways, this interesting result will surely make the 2027 rendition of the event very enticing. Will the US return to their winning ways, or will another country, like Poland, stir things up? Before we get to that, however, there's a full year of exciting tennis to come, and things are already heating up as the Australian Open looms near. 

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Written by Will Turvey. Top photo credit: United Cup.