Iga Swiatek secured Poland’s appearance in the semifinal of the United Cup following a dramatic win over Katie Boulter. The match lasted two hours and 56 minutes, with the final score being 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4. As Hubert Hurkacz defeated Billy Harris 7-6(3), 7-5 earlier, the win secured Poland’s advancement.

The match was an impressive showing from both players, especially Boulter, who started 2025 playing on a really high level. Swiatek had some major issues in this one, and it wasn’t just playing her best tennis. She had health issues as well, issues that required a medical timeout which proved rather effective.

Swiatek started to play much better after the medical timeout, which was due to the painkillers she took during it starting to work. She was asked about the medical timeout after the match and confirmed that she didn’t expect to come out as furiously as she did after it but attributed it to the painkillers which made it easier for her to play. She said in the post-match interview:

“No, I wasn’t expecting that. I didn’t take medical timeout to throw Katie off her game. I did it because I had to and I didn’t feel well. But I took some, you know, painkillers, and they started working pretty quickly. I was able to move a bit better.

“But yeah, I felt that she got distracted a bit. She missed some shots right after the break, but it wasn’t my intention, obviously, like, I don’t do these kind of things to do it tactically. It was just that I needed it. So yeah.”

While Swiatek said that she didn’t do it tactically, some fans reacted negatively, alluding that it was intentional. One fan noted:

“This sort of behaviour from Iga makes me believe that she is capable of intentionally cheating. She is very cut throat and is willing to do anything to win.”

It’s impossible to know but fans will have their opinions on various things and no two are alike.

No injury for Iga Swiatek

Even though Swiatek’s framing of the situation—painkillers and all —might have sounded pretty grim, she also confirmed that she doesn’t have any injury and expects to be without issues in the semi-final against Elena Rybakina.

“Well, yeah, I think so. Honestly nothing bad happened. It hurt at the time, but I’ll have plenty of time to recover now,” she noted in the post-match interview.

Time will tell, but the Polish team can’t hope to win the trophy without Swiatek near her best. Expect her to try and do everything to play the match.