Billie Jean King Cup: Bencic leads Switzerland previous Italy, Slovakia beat Belgium

Belinda Bencic led Switzerland to victory over Italy in its opening Billie Jean King Cup tie on Wednesday whereas Slovakia bounced again from a troublesome loss to Australia to defeat Belgium and get its marketing campaign again on monitor.

Olympic champion Bencic, the world quantity 12, noticed off Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 6-3 to safe the Group A tie for Switzerland after Jil Teichmann saved a match level en path to her thrilling 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5) win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto.

Bencic returned to courtroom half an hour later to group up with Teichmann and wrap up a flawless day for final 12 months’s finalists as they beat Paolini and Martina Trevisan 7-6(5), 6-1 to finish a 3-0 sweep.

Earlier, Viktoria Kuzmova and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova gained their singles ties to assist safe a 2-1 victory over Belgium of their last Group B tie.

Kuzmova had misplaced to Ajla Tomljanovic on Wednesday however bagged a precious doubles level with Tereza Mihalikova, and she or he carried that momentum into her highly effective 6-2, 7-6(7) win over Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium.

Schmiedlova sealed the tie for Slovakia in a tenacious 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win over Maryna Zanevska earlier than the doubles pairing of Elise Mertens and Kirsten Flipkens received Belgium on the board with a crushing 6-0, 6-3 win over Kuzmova and Mihalikova.

The competitors, previously known as the Fed Cup, was renamed in honour of the 12-times American Grand Slam champion and restructured right into a format concluding with 12 nations competing over one week for the title.

America will tackle Poland in Group D whereas Spain face Kazakhstan in Group C in a while Wednesday.