- Switzerland beats Australia in the final and wins the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Fed Cup) for the first time!
- Belinda Bencic, Jil Teichmann, Viktorija Golubic and Simona Waltert achieve historic success under coach Heinz Günthardt.
- In the final in Glasgow, Jil Teichmann (against Storm Sanders) and Belinda Bencic (against Ajla Tomljanovic) win their individual matches.
Belinda Bencic (WTA 12) let out a loud cry of joy and then fell into the arms of the Swiss team in the tennis hall in Glasgow. The 6:2, 6:1 over Ajla Tomljanovic (WTA 33) was not only a demonstration of her tennis skills – as it had been throughout the week – but also tantamount to Switzerland winning the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time. After Jil Teichmann (WTA 35) presented and won the first individual, the eastern Swiss successfully followed suit. The trophy could no longer be taken away from Switzerland, and the final doubles were no longer available.
Even the opening sentence was a clear indication of who was in charge that evening in Glasgow. Tomljanovic was still able to react to the first of Bencic’s 3 breaks. But from then on, the Swiss was superior, dictated the rallies, made fewer mistakes and made more winners. In the second round, Bencic won all games from 1:1. The historic triumph was thus certain after 75 minutes.
As so often, the same applies here: all good things come in threes. After last year’s final defeat against Russia and the defeat of the 1998 final in Geneva against Spain (at that time still in the Fed Cup), this is Switzerland’s first triumph in the third attempt in the most important women’s team competition.
“Battle sow” Teichmann submits
Teichmann had previously ended a veritable roller coaster ride of emotions with a 6:3, 4:6, 6:3. Plagued by pain in her calf after a fall, the 25-year-old received a welcome gift in the deciding set: Storm Sanders (WTA 237) had to accept the break to make it 2:3 with a double fault. After that, she trembled through her service games and finally took the serve from her opponent again in this sentence.
After 2:18 hours, the hard-fought victory was dry. With the words “You’re a fighting pig!” Viktorija Golubic, who was preferred to Teichmann in the semifinals, praised the performance of her teammate. Teichmann was happy: “I’m starting to feel it physically, but I’m super happy I was able to get the point. Hop Schwiiz!»
For a long time it had looked as if Teichmann would easily overcome the Sanders hurdle. The woman from Biel led 6: 3, 4: 4, while her opponent was no longer really moving. A medical timeout requiring ankle treatment raised doubts as to whether Sanders would even be able to finish the game. But with her back to the wall, the Australian turned up the heat. Teichmann, on the other hand, became more and more nervous. At 4:5 and with her own service, she first fended off 2 set balls before making a double mistake at the most unfavorable time.
Because Teichmann caught herself again afterwards and, as is well known, bit through, the memory of this double fault will probably only trigger a broad grin in her in the future…