In WTA Tour return, Bencic leads Switzerland past France at United Cup

In her first Hologic WTA Tour matches since her maternity leave, 2021 Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic won in singles and mixed doubles to give Switzerland a 2-1 victory over France in their Group D tie at the United Cup in Sydney.

"I'm really excited to be back, of course," Bencic said on court after her singles win. "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."

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In the tie's opening match, former World No.4 Bencic, who gave birth to daughter Bella in April, needed 87 minutes to best 123rd-ranked Paquet 6-3, 6-1 on the hard courts of Ken Rosewall Arena. This was Bencic’s first win at a tour event since her third-round victory at the 2023 US Open over 15 months ago.

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 hardcourts of Angers, France in her most recent event.

"I didn't expect, of course, to be back so early," Bencic said. "I definitely have a huge respect to all the moms there, what a woman goes through, the body changes.

"And everything is amazing, we couldn't be happier at the moment. We are parents now, our lives have changed, but definitely for the better, and yeah, we are super excited with Bella. She's here, we survived the flight to Australia, and I'm really, really happy."

Bencic brought her 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. Bencic routinely served out the match one game later.

Ugo Humbert followed for France and tied up the clash with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Switzerland's Dominic Stricker in 72 minutes.

“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 Rolex 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.”

There was no lack of drama in the first Sydney tie of the 2025 United Cup, which was settled by the decisive mixed doubles match. There, Bencic and Stricker defeated Elixane Lechemia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-1, 7-6(4) to finish Switzerland's 2-1 win over France.

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."

"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."

The victorious Swiss will need to quickly recover for their next tie against Italy on Sunday evening at Ken Rosewall Arena. France will face Italy on Tuesday to complete Group D action.