SYDNEY: Former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic sparkled on her return to the elite circuit after her maternity break, leading Switzerland to a 2-1 win over France in the United Cup mixed team tournament on Saturday.

The 27-year-old beat Chloe Paquet 6-3, 6-1 in her first WTA Tour level match since giving birth to daughter Bella in April. She later combined with Dominic Stricker to defeat Elixane Lechemia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-1, 7-6 (7/4).

Bencic, who will compete in the Jan 12-26 Australian Open with a protected ranking, said she was playing at a higher level than she expected.

“The whole comeback went much faster than I anticipated and expected. It’s great,” said Bencic, who first returned to action in October and played in the Billie Jean King Cup, apart from lower level tournaments.

“I didn’t rush things. I was super careful with starting again. I didn’t really want to put time pressure on my comeback. I just wanted to see how it goes every day. I think I was ready. There’s no point in practising more. It’s boring, right? It’s better to play competitive matches.”

Ugo Humbert had earlier pulled France level at 1-1 with a 6-3 7-5 win over Stricker in the Group ‘D’ contest, battling back from 2-5 down in the second set to prevail and force a mixed doubles rubber at the Ken Rosewall Arena.

In the evening session, Argentina beat Australia 2-1 in Group ‘F’ as Nadia Podoroska beat Olivia Gadecki 6-2, 6-4 before Maria Lourdes Carle and Tomas Martin Etcheverry downed Ellen Perez and Matt Ebden 6-2, 6-4.

Alex De Minaur had powered past Etcheverry 6-1, 6-4 to make it 1-1 in front of a raucous home crowd.

Canada were also victorious in Group ‘A’ of the tournament that features 18 countries, as they defeated Croatia 2-1 in Perth’s RAC Arena.

Former US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez overcame Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-3 before Felix Auger-Aliassime crashed to a 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss against Borna Coric.

Fernandez and Auger-Aliassime then saw off Lucija Ciric Bagaric and Ivan Dodig 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the tie.

Jessica Bouzas Maneiro got Spain off to a solid start with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Maria Sakkari before Stefanos Tsitsipas got past Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to put Greece on the board in a Group C clash.

Sakkari and Tsitsipas then edged out Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers and Sergio Martos Gornes 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 to wrap up the tie.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2024