On Sunday in Australia, the second of three ties in each of the six round-robin groups of the inaugural United Cup will be decided. The current group standings can be found here.
On Saturday, Rafael Nadal lost his first match of the new season to Cameron Norrie in Sydney. A day later, he is scheduled to return to the court in mixed doubles alongside Paula Badosa, in a match that may end up deciding the tie between Spain and Great Britain.
In Brisbane, Iga Swiatek is scheduled to team with fellow Polish No.1 Hubert Hurkacz.
Each day, this preview will analyze the two most prominent matches on the schedule. Sunday’s play in each city gets underway at 10:00am local time.
Paula Badosa and Rafael Nadal [ESP] vs. Harriet Dart and Dan Evans [GBR] – Last on in Sydney
Great Britain leads Spain 2-0, so Spain needs to win all three matches on Sunday to secure the tie. Badosa and Dart will square off in singles earlier in the evening, followed by Evans facing Pablo Carreno Busta. If Spain wins both of those matches, this mixed doubles match will decide the tie. Great Britain defeated Australia in the opening tie of this group, so Team GB only needs to win one match on Sunday to secure their advancement out of this group, and end Spain’s hopes.
This will be an extremely rare opportunity to see Nadal participate in mixed doubles, and will surely be a career highlight for his partner, Badosa. And Rafa is quite an accomplished doubles player. Alongside Marc Lopez, who is now a part of his coaching team, he won the gold medal in men’s doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Nadal also owns three Masters 1000 titles in doubles.
But Dart and Evans have also achieved success in doubles. Dart was a finalist in mixed doubles at Wimbledon in 2021, while Evans has reached three Masters 1000 finals in doubles across the past two seasons. However, with an all-time great and one of the WTA’s best players on the other side of the net, I give the advantage to Team Spain in this mixed doubles matchup.
Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz [POL] vs. Zhibek Kulambayeva and Alexander Bublik [KAZ] – Last on in Brisbane
These countries split their two matches on Saturday. In Sunday’s singles action, Hurkacz and Bublik will collide, while Kulambayeva will take on Magda Linette. If the countries split those two matches, this mixed doubles contest will decide the tie.
With all her success in singles last season, Swiatek did not play any doubles on tour. Hurkacz owns two Masters 1000 titles in doubles, including last season’s Miami Open. Bublik was a runner-up in men’s doubles at the 2021 French Open. Kulambayeva is a 22-year-old ranked outside the top 200 in both singles and doubles.
Despite her lack of recent doubles play, Swiatek was a runner-up in women’s doubles at Roland Garros in 2021. So she and Hurkacz are threats on both the singles and doubles courts, and will be the favorites to prevail on Sunday.
The United Cup daily schedule is here.
