Bencic's magical 8-0 start sends Swiss into first United Cup final

Switzerland advanced to its first United Cup final after Belinda Bencic delivered a pivotal performance in challenging conditions Saturday in Sydney against Belgium. Bencic improved to 8-0 at the tournament, with four singles victories and four wins alongside Jakub Paul in mixed doubles.

Bencic gave Switzerland the early lead by defeating Elise Mertens 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (0). She then teamed with Paul to clinch the tie in mixed doubles, holding off Mertens and Zizou Bergs 6-3, 0-6, [10-5] in their third deciding mixed-doubles match of the event.

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"He’s so brave it’s unbelievable,” Bencic said of Paul on court. "I tell him to go [for it] and he actually goes. It’s crazy.

"The team spirit is amazing and it starts with the captain (Stan Wawrinka). He’s supporting all throughout my match and then he goes out to play his own match and then he’s back to support the doubles. It starts with him but then with all the energy from our bench it gives us such a spirit to win."

Switzerland will await the winner of the second semifinal tie between the United States and Poland, both finalists from the 2025 edition. Regardless, Bencic will have her first top 5 opponent, either against No. 2 Iga Swiatek or No. 4 Coco Gauff.

Bencic outlasted Mertens in 2 hours and 37 minutes to put Switzerland up 1-0 in the semifinalz. Mertens had beaten Bencic in their only previous meeting, back in 2021, but the 28-year-old Bencic came into the tilt in more impervious form, with a 6-0 record across Switzerland's first three ties.

While Mertens had back-to-back tough tussles against Victoria Mboko and Barbora Krejcikova after a straight-sets win over Zhu Lin, Bencic hadn't come close to losing a set against Leolia Jeanjean, Jasmine Paolini and Solana Sierra to lead Switzerland to the final four.

Bencic was two games away from an uncomplicated 6-3, 6-4 victory before Mertens pushed the match the distance. The Belgian denied her Swiss opponent two chances to knot the second set at 5-5 before breaking serve, claiming a set in which she previously saw a 3-1 lead erased.

That set the stage for a dramatic third set, in which Mertens came from 3-1 down, saved a pair of break points that would've given Bencic a 4-1 lead, and was two points away from the win with Bencic serving at 30-30, down 6-5.

But Bencic won the last nine points of the match following an in-the-moment decision to change her racquet to a freshly-strung one at that stage, wrapping up the victory.

"I think today was really overcoming myself. It was a bit weird. You're still in the same tournament, you play semifinal, but it feels like a first-round match again because it's a different site," Bencic said to reporters. "It's very special. It never happens normally in a normal tournament. I think it felt a little bit that way. I think I was just a little bit off maybe for the whole match with myself, with my thoughts.

"I'm really happy also some days like this where you are maybe more anxious on the court or more nervous, I felt at one point I had to let all my emotions out."

In men's singles, backing up his consecutive wins over World No. 5 Felix Auger-Aliassime and No. 18 Jakub Mensik, Bergs rallied from 40-0 on Stan Wawrinka’s serve at 4-3 in the third set to take the decisive break. The match had featured just six break points to that stage.

Wawrinka, the 40-year-old three-time Grand Slam champion in his 25th and final season, has played inspired tennis to kick off his farewell season, breaking serve just once across four matches has proved costly as he slipped to 1-3 in singles matches during the tournament.

"Stan played really well and I really had to battle it out today," said Bergs, who won 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3. "It was hard to control the ball on return and he served very good; it was very hard for me. To get rhythm is very tough. I’m just happy I found the solution."

Bergs erased the heartache of his last outing in the Davis Cup semifinals, when he let slip seven match points against Italian Flavio Cobolli while attempting to send the tie to a deciding doubles, but it would be the Swiss who emerged victorious.