Top-seeded Elina Svitolina captured her 19th WTA Tour title Sunday at the ASB Classic, defeating seventh-seeded Wang Xinyu 6-3, 7-6 (8). The 13th-ranked Svitolina improved to 5-0 to open the year after ending 2025 on a four-match losing streak and now owns 19 titles from 24 finals appearances.

This was Svitolina’s first tournament since she took a mental health break that ended her 2025 season in September. She was supported courtside throughout the week by her husband Gael Monfils, who won the men’s title in Auckland last year and will defend that title from Monday.

“It definitely feels amazing to win another title, especially after a not very pleasant end of year for me,” Svitolina said. “But that break really helped me to regroup and come back with a new energy and I’m very happy that I got a title here.

“This one was very special because, obviously, my husband won here last year and this year he told me if you don’t win this year I don’t know what to tell you anymore.”

Svitolina showed resilience from the start, saving a break point in her opening service game. Wang, in her first WTA Tour final, displayed sharp net play and a well-disguised drop shot, weapons notable from her French Open doubles success.

Svitolina converted her first break opportunity in the sixth game and closed out the opening set in just over 30 minutes. In the second set, Wang held a tight opening game and used a drop shot to force Svitolina out of position, then survived break points in the fifth with a running volley and pushed to lead 5-4.

The match reached a tiebreak where Wang took an early advantage, but Svitolina quickly recovered. She produced two powerful serves to move ahead 6-5, survived a saved championship point and then seized a crucial minibreak before serving out the victory on her second match point.

Svitolina now heads to Melbourne, where she will play an exhibition against fourth-ranked Amanda Anisimova on Wednesday.

After finishing second in the United Cup the past two seasons, Poland completed a run to the title with a narrow 2-1 victory over Switzerland. The tie was decided in mixed doubles when Katarzyna Kawa and Jan Zielinski beat Belinda Bencic and Jakub Paul 6-4, 6-3 to secure the win for Poland.

The weekend had produced tense two-set reversals and three-set singles battles. Belinda Bencic rallied from a set down to upset Iga Swiatek 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. Hubert Hurkacz then forced the deciding doubles by defeating Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Poland had fallen short in the final in each of the two previous editions, losing to Germany in the 2024 final and to the United States last year. This time the country got over the line thanks to the breakthrough mixed doubles pairing of Kawa and Zielinski, whose straight-sets victory clinched the tie.

Bencic earned tournament MVP honors after compiling a 9-1 record over the event. She described the award as “bittersweet.” The Swiss player’s comeback over Swiatek and consistent performances through the week were central to Switzerland’s challenge in the final.

The match sequence underlined how small margins decided the title. Singles victories by Bencic and Hurkacz set up a decisive doubles match that ultimately swung Poland’s way. Kawa and Zielinski delivered under pressure, converting the opportunity to lift the trophy for their nation after two successive runner-up finishes.

© 2026 Robert Prange

Poland reached the United Cup final when Katarzyna Kawa and Jan Zielinski defeated Coco Gauff and Christian Harrison 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in a mixed doubles decider. The victory sends Poland into Sunday’s final against Switzerland.

Kawa and Zielinski had already been decisive in a mixed-doubles decider in the quarterfinals against Australia, and their latest win again brought teammates onto the court to celebrate. Six-time Grand Slam singles champion Iga Swiatek rushed over to join the celebrations.

Earlier in the tie, Gauff beat the No. 2-ranked Swiatek 6-4, 6-2 to force the mixed-doubles decider. Fourth-ranked Gauff, the Roland Garros champion, evened the matchup at 1-1 after Hubert Hurkacz beat Taylor Fritz 7-6 (1), 7-6 (2) in the singles opener at Ken Rosewall Arena. It was Gauff’s fourth straight victory over Świątek, the Wimbledon champion.

Switzerland advanced to the final when Belinda Bencic and Jakub Paul won the deciding mixed doubles against Belgium’s Elise Mertens and Zizou Bergs 6-3, 0-6, 10-5. Bencic has won all four of her singles matches and four in mixed doubles this week in the team event. Paul, who won just six tour-level doubles matches last year, hit several down-the-line winners at crucial moments to lead Switzerland into the final.

“He’s so brave it’s unbelievable,” Bencic said of Paul. “I tell him to go (for it) and he actually goes. It’s crazy.”

Bencic had extended her undefeated season-opening singles streak earlier when she beat Mertens 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (0) to put Switzerland ahead 1-0. Stan Wawrinka, who will retire at the end of this season, was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 by Bergs, a match that turned in the eighth game of the third set when Bergs broke to go up 5-3 and then held serve.

Tournament organizers started play 30 minutes earlier than scheduled with searing temperatures of up to 43 Celsius (109 Fahrenheit) in the forecast for Sydney.

Bencic was two games from a straight-sets win before Mertens pushed the match the distance. Mertens came from 3-1 down in the third set, saved a pair of break points that would have given Bencic a 4-1 lead, and was two points away from the set with Bencic serving at 30-30, down 6-5. But Bencic won the last nine points of the match following a decision to change her racket to a freshly-strung one.

“It feels like 170 kilos fell off my shoulders — I was so stressed; I really wanted to do well, and today I felt so much pressure to not let my team down,” Bencic said.