Poland joined Australia in the semi-finals of the United Cup. What about Djokovic’s injury?

The new tennis season is well underway in Australia and the United Cup team competition, which moved into its quarter-final round tonight, is part of the preparations. The two quarter-final encounters offered clear-cut contests in terms of results. Both Poland and Australia advanced to the semi-finals after winning 3:0 on aggregate. Even Novak Djokovic, who is injured, lost his match in the quarter-finals.

Poland – China 3:0

Hurkacz – Zhang 6:3, 6:4, Swiatek – Zheng 6:2, 6:3, Piter / Zielinski – Sun / You 6:3, 5:7, 10:7

The duel between Poland and China had a clear favourite in the Polish team before the match. China had played a very good preliminary group, in which they managed to beat the Czech Republic. China managed to advance to the quarterfinals from the second place in Group E thanks to the score.

The opening game was important for China. But Hurkacz did not allow any drama and defeated his Chinese opponent, who managed to beat Jiri Lehecka, smoothly 2: 0 in sets. The women’s singles match was also clear-cut in terms of results.

Polish superstar Swiatek dominated it 2: 0 in sets. The mix didn’t decide anything and both teams put players on the court who might not have been able to get on the court otherwise. In the end, Poland won this match as well. Poland will face the better of France-Norway in the semifinals.

Australia – Serbia 3:0

De Minaur – Djokovic 6:4, 6:4, Tomljanovic – Stevanovic 6:1, 6:1, Ebden / Hunter – Cacic / Radanovic 6:3, 6:3

The match between the home team Australia and the challenger from Serbia promised to be interesting. Who would have expected a different opening to the match than Djokovic’s win would have been a dreamer, but..

In the end, the match offered a completely different picture and the home team De Minaur managed to beat Djokovic 2:0 on sets, always 6: 4. Already during the match it became clear that Djokovic was struggling with a wrist injury. Almost immediately there were questions about whether the world number one would be okay for the upcoming Australian open.

“My wrist has been bothering me for the last two days. It was worse during today’s match, but I don’t want to diminish Alex’s win at all. I will try to recover for the Australian Open. I think I will be fine in Melbourne,” Djokovic said at the press conference.

The Serbian still had a chance to turn the match around. But that would have required Stevanovic to beat Tomljanovic. And that task proved completely unrealistic. The Australian tennis player managed to win the encounter smoothly in two sets, losing only two games in total.

The final tie was not a big deal, but Australia managed to win it and thus reached the semi-finals with a 3:0 score. In the semi-finals, Australia will play the better of Greece and Germany.

Source: Livesport.cz. Tenisportal.cz