Hubert Hurkacz vs Stan Wawrinka Prediction: A well-matched tie is in the cards

Hubert Hurkacz of Poland will meet Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in a potentially pivotal singles match on day six of the 2023 United Cup, which will take place on Tuesday, January 3.

At the time of writing, Hubert Hurkacz had regained Poland's advantage in the match against Kazakhstan, allowing Magda Linette to seal the victory.

Hurkacz was tried and pushed to his greatest limits by Kazakhstan's Team Captain, the lively and flamboyant Alexander Bublik.

Hurkacz was broken for the first and only time in the match at the start of the second set, after winning the first set in a tiebreak on his sixth set point. Bublik took command of the situation and consolidated in all of his service games.

It looked like a tiebreak would occur in the deciding. However, in the eighth game of the third set, Hurkacz hit some crushing deep returns to secure his sole break of the match, putting Bublik under continual strain. That was enough to propel him to victory, as he smashed his 18th ace on match point.

Stan Wawrinka, like Hurkacz, defeated Alexander Bublik in his own singles encounter a few days ago. He entered the match as a small underdog, hoping to make apologies for his absence from the last ATP Tour tournament between the two last season.

Wawrinka didn't appear to be in any trouble this time around at the United Cup, as he used his groundstroke precision and shot weight to go through Bublik's defence. Wawrinka did not face a single break point with 10 aces in his bag.

And, even more daringly, he won 29 of 34 first-serve points. Bublik simply couldn't counter Wawrinka's near-perfect baseline hitting. Team Switzerland will have a considerably tougher test when they face one of the favorites for the title in Poland.

Hurkacz needed to be on his toes or else the duel against Bublik would spin out of hand. Wawrinka had little trouble eliminating the volatile Kazakh in his opening, but everything pointed to these two countries being evenly balanced.