GERMANY has come from being a Group D and Sydney runner-up to overall champions at the 2024 United Cup, taking down Poland in an incredible final last night. The Germans – led by Alexander Zverev – won the tie 2-1 after a forgettable women’s singles match to seal the trophy.

After finishing at 2:15am the night before, the Germans showed they had no problems backing it up, with the deciding mixed doubles going until 12:45am on Monday morning at Ken Rosewall Arena. Zverev teamed up with doubles specialist Laura Siegemund against top 10 singles players, Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz, winning in another super tiebreak, 6-4 5-7 10-4.

The result marked an incredible turnaround for Germany who lost both its matches last year – to eventual champions United States and Czech Republic – and went down to France in the second tie of Group D after knocking off reigning runners-up, Italy.

In what would be Zverev’s only doubles loss, Siegemund would switch into mixed doubles to replace Angelique Kerber, and the Germans would go on to beat two top 10 singles combinations and a top five doubles combinations en route to the title.

Overnight when the going got tough, Germany found a way to win, with Zverev having picked up four out of five singles wins and the same strike rate in doubles.

“It’s been absolutely amazing. It’s been a pleasure and it’s been absolutely so much fun for everybody to be part of this team, especially for me,” Zverev said post-match. “I really thank you guys for being part of this. I really couldn’t be happier be sharing this trophy with anybody than you guys.”

After surviving match points the night before against Australia, Germany had to do it again, but this time it was Zverev who saved two against Hurkacz to come away with the 6-7 7-6 6-4 victory in a match that lasted three hours.

Earlier in the night, the women’s singles match was a polar opposite as world number one Swiatek bulldozed past Kerber 6-3 6-0 and an hour and 10 minutes. The top ranked WTA Tour player thanked everyone involved for getting so close to the title.

“It was really tight. Last year we made it to the semi-finals, this year to the final so hopefully the next step is going to be winning,” Swiatek said. “For sure we’re making progress and I want to thank my team, all the players, the captain [Tomasz Wiktorowski], who I convinced to be a captain. He did an amazing job, really supported us throughout the whole tournament.”