United Cup: Bencic/Stricker Win Deciding Mixed Doubles, Lead Switzerland Past France

United Cup: Bencic/Stricker win deciding mixed doubles, lead Switzerland past France (Image Source: IANS)

Billie Jean King Cup: Belinda Bencic and Dominic Stricker defeated Elixane Lechemia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-1, 7-6(4) on Saturday in a deciding mixed doubles clash to lead Switzerland past France 2-1 in Group D action.

The Swiss maintained their chances of progressing to the knock-out stages of the prestigious mixed-gender team competition, after Ugo Humbert defeated Dominic Stricker 6-3, 7-5 to pull France back level after Bencic had opened their campaign with a clinical 6-3, 6-1 win over Chloe Paquet in the women's singles.

In the decider, the Swiss side appeared in cruise control after losing just 12 points in the first set of the mixed doubles but needed to work hard to ultimately prevail in 77 minutes.

"I saw her matches when she played with Roger, so it was not easy for me," Stricker said, referring to countryman Roger Federer. "But we just had a good talk before the match and then we came out hot and it's super great to win that match and that tie."

The winners will need to quickly recover for their next tie against Italy on Sunday evening at Ken Rosewall Arena. France will face Italy on Tuesday.

"So important [to earn the win] and it was a pleasure playing with Dominic," Bencic said. "It's so easy when he's on serve. I'm just chilling at the net, not touching the ball, so it's super cool to play with him and we had great energy on the court."

Humbert gave France a chance to contest a 'live' mixed doubles match when he levelled the tie with a 6-3, 7-5 victory against Stricker.

“It was the first match of the year, so it was not easy after the preseason. I worked well,” Humbert said. “I felt much better at the end and I’m super happy about my win today.”

Humbert closed his 2024 season with the best tournament of his career. The lefty made his first ATP Masters 1000 final at the Paris Masters. Although the Frenchman did not play a perfect match against Stricker to begin the new season, falling behind by a break in the second set, he remained composed and battled through in straight sets.

“I tried to push myself,” Humbert said. “At the end, I had the break, my energy was going low, so I tried to push a little bit more and I played really great tennis at the end, so it was a nice victory for me.”

In her first WTA Tour match since her maternity leave, the 2021 Olympic gold medallist Bencic defeated Chloe Paquet in straight sets to give Switzerland a 1-0 lead.

Former World No.4 Bencic, who gave birth to daughter Bella in April, needed 87 minutes to best 123rd-ranked Paquet on the hard courts of Ken Rosewall Arena. This was Bencic’s first win at a tour-level event since her third-round victory at the 2023 US Open over 15 months ago.

"I'm really excited to be back, of course," Bencic said. "I had a little bit of nerves at the start and a little bit of rust, so I'm happy I kind of accepted that and tried to fight through it. And after I felt like it went smoother, I became a little bit more calm, and kind of was more able to focus on my tennis."

Bencic returned to the courts in October, playing Billie Jean King Cup, WTA 125, and ITF events. Signs were already present that she was solidly returning to form, reaching a WTA 125 final on the indoor hard courts of Angers, France in her most recent event.

The Tokyo Olympics champion brought that resurgent form into her first meeting with Paquet, a Tour veteran who cracked the Top 100 for the first time in her career earlier this year just after her 30th birthday.

From 3-2 down, Bencic won four games in a row to claim the opening set, in which she fired seven backhand winners to Paquet’s one. Bencic extended her game-winning streak to nine straight before Paquet got on the scoreboard again at 5-1 in the second set. The Swiss routinely served out the match one game later.

The Tokyo Olympics champion brought that resurgent form into her first meeting with Paquet, a Tour veteran who cracked the Top 100 for the first time in her career earlier this year just after her 30th birthday.

Article Source: IANS