World No.12 Belinda Bencic opened her season with a tense 7-6(0), 6-3 win over No. 51 Yulia Putintseva on Day 1 of the United Cup in Brisbane, earlier than Marc-Andrea Huesler prolonged Switzerland’s result in 2-0 towards Kazakhstan in Group B.
Bencic secured the straight-set win by coolly reeling in Putintseva, who led by a break early in each units. After falling behind 4-1 within the opening set, Bencic fought off three set factors on her serve to stage at 5-5. She took her momentum into the tie-break, the place she saved a clear sheet to safe the opening set after 72 minutes.
“I’m happy I kept fighting,” Bencic mentioned. “For sure the positive attitude as well from my team, the crowd, and the great atmosphere got me through.”
Bencic pulled off one other comeback within the second set, although with fewer dramatics. Despite falling behind 1-3, the Swiss Olympic champion by no means misplaced her cool. With each group captain Stan Wawrinka and coach Dmitry Tursunov urging her on, Bencic cleaned up her errors and ratcheted up the strain to win the following 5 video games.
“How can you not listen to such a champion when he’s telling you things,” Bencic mentioned, referring to Wawrinka. “I was trying to listen, to focus, and do what I had to do.”
The victory leveled Bencic’s head-to-head towards Putintseva to 3-3.
Photo: Getty Images
Huesler additionally wanted to work onerous Thursday night, finally battling previous 21-year-old Timofey Skatov 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 after two hours and 23 minutes.
Skatov scratched and clawed for his nation inside Pat Rafter Arena, displaying the expertise that helped him to his maiden ATP Challenger Tour crown final October in Italy. But the Swiss was too calm below strain, saving six of the seven break factors he confronted to triumph.
Huesler is enjoying one of the best tennis of his profession aged 26, sitting at a career-high No. 56 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The lefty, who claimed his first ATP Tour title final yr in Sofia, was simply contained in the Top 200 this time final yr.
Playing captain Stan Wawrinka could have an opportunity to seal the tie for his nation within the No. 1 males’s singles match on Friday when he faces one other enjoying captain, Alexander Bublik. The Kazakhstani leads their ATP Head2Head 2-0, with each their earlier clashes coming in 2022 (the second lasted three video games earlier than Wawrinka retired).