Billie Jean King Cup dominated by Swiss tennis players

Last year the Swiss tennis players remained just below the top, this year the representatives of the Helvetic Cross country are already rejoicing. Captain Heinz Günthardt’s charges played in the Billie Jean King Cup final for the second time in a row and are celebrating the valuable trophy after beating Australia. The overall winners were decided in the singles on Sunday.

A year ago in Prague’s O2 Arena, Switzerland lost to the Russians, who could not defend their title due to their exclusion because of war aggression in Ukraine. Belinda Bencic and co. had all the more motivation in the final.

And it was the Olympic champion from Tokyo who was the driving force behind her team. The team started its successful journey in Glasgow with wins in the group matches against Italy and Canada. They then knocked out the Czech team in the semi-finals.

His Australian opponents took on Slovakia and Belgium, then reached the final after a win over home team Great Britain.

The favourite in the opening singles was world No. 35 Jil Teichmann, who ran into Storm Sanders, the No. 237 singles player on the WTA rankings. The match, which lasted two and a half hours after sets 6: 3 and 4: 6, was decided by the third set, which ended 6: 3 for the Swiss representative.

The aforementioned Bencic then completed the job in the clash of the team leaders. The world number 12 challenged Ajla Tomljanovic, who is ranked 33rd in the rankings. This time it was a much more straightforward affair.

Bencic, who incidentally also holds Slovakian citizenship, won 6: 2, 6: 1 and won the Billie Jean King Cup for the Swiss and her teammates for the first time. The final doubles match between the pairs Bencic, Teichmann and Sanders, Stosur did not take place.

“Last year we were in the final and we were heartbroken. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much.

But Jil Teichmann came up to me in the locker room and said we’re going to win next year. And we did it! I’m incredibly proud, ” said Bencic after the final match of the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.

The United States remains the most successful country in the competition, which was formerly known as the Federation Cup or Fed Cup, with 18 triumphs.

Second is the Czech Republic, which, including the Czechoslovakia era, has achieved eleven championships. In third position is this year’s beaten Australia, whose last of seven titles dates back to 1974.

Source: Billie Jean King Cup, WTA