SYDNEY (Reuters) – 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 down the pair of Elixane Lechemia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-1 7-6(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.
Canada were also victorious in Group A of the 10 million tournament that features 18 countries, as they defeated Croatia 2-1 in Perth’s RAC Arena.
Former U.S. 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 defeat by Borna Coric.
Fernandez and Auger-Aliassime then saw off Lucija Ciric Bagaric and Ivan Dodig 6-3 6-4 to clinch the tie.
Australia were in action against Argentina in Sydney while Greece meet Spain later in Perth.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)
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