Jil Teichmann and Belinda Bencic fire Switzerland past Australia for first-ever Billie Jean King Cup title
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Published 13/11/2022 at 19:33 GMT
Switzerland claimed their first Billie Jean King Cup title by beating Australia 2-0 in the final in Glasgow. Jil Teichmann and Belinda Bencic recorded singles wins over Storm Sanders and Ajla Tomljanovic, respectively, to seal the victory, which came on the back of Australia's narrow semi-final win over hosts Great Britain. The Swiss went one better after losing last year's final to Russia.
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Switzerland defeated Australia 2-0 to win the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time after Jil Teichmann and Olympic champion Belinda Bencic both claimed singles victories in the Glasgow final.
The 2021 runners-up put the result beyond doubt as Teichmann took down Storm Sanders in a three-set thriller before Bencic defeated Ajla Tomljanovic in straight sets.
Switzerland lost to Russia in last year’s final, and their victory prevented the top-seeded Aussies, who beat Great Britain on Saturday, from winning the biggest team event in women’s tennis for an eighth time, in what was a rematch of the 2021 semi-final.
Teichmann beat Australia’s semi-final hero Sanders 6-3 4-6 6-3 before world No. 12 Bencic, who didn’t drop a set all week, won 6-2 6-1 against Tomljanovic to spark scenes of jubilation from the Swiss camp.
Asked if defeat in last year's final provided extra motivation, Bencic said: "Yes, it did. We were finalists last year and we were so heartbroken, I don’t think I’ve cried so much."
"But in the locker room she [Teichmann] came to me and said ‘next year we’re going to do it’ and we did. I’m so incredibly proud.”
Swiss captain Heinz Gundhardt again chose to rotate his selection, bringing Teichmann in for Viktoija Golubic for the opening singles rubber despite the latter’s wins over Canada’s Bianca Andreescu and Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in previous rounds.
It quickly looked like a smart decision as Teichmann broke Sanders in the opening game, and although the Australian soon broke back, the Swiss finished the stronger to take the opening set 6-3.
Sanders, who won singles and doubles matches against Great Britain in the semi-finals, needed a medical timeout in the second set but recovered to take it 6-4, breaking Teichmann’s serve at the opportune moment in the final game.
However, world No. 35 Teichmann recovered by winning a game lasting over 10 minutes to break the Sanders serve and go 3-2 up, sending her on the way to a 6-3 victory in the deciding set.
That left Tomljanovic needing a win against Bencic to send the final to a deciding doubles rubber, but the world No. 33 couldn’t get the result she needed against the inspired Swiss No.1.
There was a break apiece early on in the first set as the score reached 2-2, but Bencic then found another gear as she won four games in a row to claim the opener 6-2, hitting five winners and keeping her unforced error count to just six.
The second set followed a similar route, as Bencic surrendered the opening game on Tomljanovic’s serve but then won six games in a row, roaring in delight when the Australian netted the first of two championship points to hand Switzerland victory.
“It was nerve-wracking. I felt like I gave so much energy in Jil's match because I was trying to push her, Storm was playing incredibly and throwing everything at Jil," Bencic said.
“She stayed so strong, every point she didn’t go away and refused to lose. She just fought with everything she had. I was so proud and so inspired in a way, I tried to do the same thing.”
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