Alex de Minaur's Australia and Iga Swiatek's Poland are in Sydney ready to battle in the United Cup semi-finals on Saturday.
Australia, which will face Greece or Germany, eliminated No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings Novak Djokovic and Serbia in the quarter-finals to advance to Sydney.
"Perth has treated us pretty nicely," De Minaur said. "We had a great time over there, we played some great tennis and obviously the goal was to make it to Sydney and I think we're all very happy to be here."
De Minaur recorded one of the biggest wins of his career against Djokovic, upsetting the 36-year-old 6-4, 6-4 at RAC Arena.
"It was a pretty special moment, one that I'll obviously remember for the rest of my life," De Minaur said. "It's definitely not every day you get a win over the best player in the world, so I'm very grateful."
Photo: Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour
Swiatek showed devastating form in Perth, where she lost just 12 games in three matches against high-quality opponents. The WTA World No. 1 said at the airport on Thursday she is eager for her country to advance further than in 2023, when it lost to eventual champion United States in the semi-finals.
Poland will play France, which clawed past Norway in the quarter-finals.
"Very excited. It's another opportunity for us," Swiatek said. "Last year, we made it to the semi-finals, so for sure this year we want to go further. And I'm really happy with our performance in Perth, it was really solid and I feel like we have good rhythm and we can actually play our best game here."
